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ECLECTIC   SCHOOL    READINGS 


OLD    H 
STORIES  OF 
THE  EAST 

a 


/vr 

tf 


> 


NEW  YORK  •  CINCINNATI  •  CHICAGO 
AMERICAN  •  BOOK  •  COMPANY 


fciffiri^l^Kte^iii^ifM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

OIF"T  OF" 

ULMO^^ 


Received  ^ff~l~          ,1900. 

Accession  No.  0/6  c/  <9    ,    Class  No. 


ECLECTIC  SCHOOL   READINGS 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  EAST 


BY 


JAMES    BALDWIN 


NEW  YORK-:- CINCINNATI-:- CHICAGO 
AMERICAN   BOOK   COMPANY 


%> 


COPYRIGHT,  1896,  BY 
AMERICAN  BOOK  COMPANY. 


STO.   OF  THE  EAST. 

\V.  P.  -2. 


PREFACE. 


THERE  are  few  stories  which  in  themselves  are  more  intensely 
iteresting  than  those  that  have  come  down  to  us  from  antiquity 

rough  the  medium  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures.  Yet  they  have 
een  so  generally  and  so  exclusively  employed  for  the  purpose  of 
imparting  religious  instruction,  that  their  purely  literary  qualities 
have  not  always  received  the  attention  which  they  merit.  By 
very  many  persons,  grown-up  people  as  well  as  children,  they  are 
regarded  as  being  inseparably  connected  with  the  services  of  the 
Sunday  school  and  the  Church,  and  hence  scarcely  to  be  thought 
of  during  the  secular  days  of  the  week.  There  is  really  no  good 
reason  why  this  should  be  so.  Indeed,  there  is  no  good  reason 
why  children  in  the  day  schools  should  not  read  these  old  stories 
of  the  East  with  as  much  freedom  and  with  as  eager  zest  as  they 
peruse  the  classic  myths  of  Greece  or  the  ever-charming  tales 
with  which  the  world  of  modern  fiction  abounds. 

In  the  present  volume  it  has  been  the  aim  of  the  author  to 
retell  these  stories  from  a  literary  standpoint,  and  in  exactly  the 
same  manner  as  he  would  retell  other  stories  pertaining  to  the 
infancy  of  the  human  race.  He  has  endeavored  to  represent 
the  actors  in  them  as  real  men  and  women  inhabiting  the  same 
world  as  ourselves ;  and,  while  it  has  been  neither  possible  nor 

3 


desirable  to  omit  frequent  allusions  to  the  supernatural,  care  has 
been  taken  not  to  trespass  on  the  domain  of  the  religious  teacher0 
In  order  the  better  to  carry  out  this  plan,  the  Hebrew  names  are 
used  sparingly,  and  are  often  omitted  in  favor  of  their  English 
equivalents.  It  is  believed  that  this  device  will  not  only  give  to 
some  of  the  stories  r,  flavor  of  newness,  but  that  it  will  in  many 
instances  help  the  young  reader  to  a  readier  appreciation  of  their 
beauty. 

While  each  of  the  twelve  stories  in  this  volume  is  wholly  inde- 
pendent of  the  others,  and  may  be  read  without  any  knowledge 
of  those  which  precede  it,  there  is  nevertheless  a  continuity  from 
the  first  to  the  last,  giving  to  the  collection  the  completeness  of  a 
single  narrative.  It  comprises,  in  short,  the  history  of  the  origin 
of  the  Hebrew  race,  and  of  the  chief  events  connected  with  the 
life  of  that  people  down  to  the  period  of  their  greatest  prosperity. 

Whether  or  not  this  presentation  of  the  subject  may  be  an 
incentive  to  a  closer  acquaintance  with  the  matchless  volume  from 
which  the  stories  are  derived,  has  not  been  a  matter  of  considera- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  writer.  His  sole  aim  has  been  to  prepare 
a  book  which  all  children  at  school  may  read  with  pleasure,  both 
because  of  the  simple  language  in  which  it  is  written  and  because 
of  the  conceptions  of  beauty  and  truth  that  are  found  in  the 
stories  which  it  contains. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

THE  GARDEN  OF  DELIGHT 7 

THE  Two  BROTHERS 14 

THE  FLOOD  OF  WATERS 18 

THE  GREAT  CHIEF. 

I.     The  Promise 27 

II.     The  New  Name 30 

III.  The  Strangers 31 

IV.  The  Burnt  Offering 36 

V.     The  Faithful  Servant 39 

VI.     Beauty  and  Laughter 45 

THE  MASTER  OF  THE  LAND  OF  THE  NILE. 

I.     The  Dreamer      . 51 

II.     The  Journey 53 

III.  The  Dry  Well 58 

IV.  The  Caravan       .         . 63 

V.     The  Prison 67 

VI.     The  Dreams 70 

VII.     The  Ten  Strangers 77 

VIII.     The  Little  Brother 80 

IX.     The  Discovery 83 

THE  GREAT  LAWGIVER. 

I.     The  King's  Daughter 88 

II.     The  Shepherd     . 93 

III.  The  Burning  Bush     - 97 

IV.  The  Ten  Plagues         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  101 

V.     The  Long  Journey 106 


"  THE  MAN  WHOSE  EYES  WERE  OPEN." 

I.  The  Soothsayer 112 

II.     The  Vision          .         .         .         .  .         .         .115 

III.  The  First  Mountain 119 

IV.  The  Second  Mountain 123 

V.     The  Third  Mountain  .         .         .         .         .         .         .125 

THE  BEE  AND  THE  GAZELLE. 

I.     The  Bee 128 

II.     The  Gazelle .132 

III.     The  Song 139 

IDOL  BREAKER. 

I.     The  Idol .143 

II.     The  Angel          ........     145 

III.  The  Camp 151 

IV.  The  Flight 155 

THE  STORY  OF  SPLENDID  SUN. 

I.     The  Wanderers 160 

II.     The  Stranger 163 

III.  The  Riddle .166 

IV.  The  Foxes  . 173 

V.     The  Secret .180 

VI.     The  Temple 184 

A  STORY  OF  HARVEST  TIME. 

I.     The  Gleaner        ...                  .  .187 

II.  The  Harvest  Feast      ....  .     194 
III.     The  Wedding     ....       \  ...     196 

THE  SHEPHERD  BOY  WHO  BECAME  KING. 

I.     The  Seer .     199 

II.     The  King 202 

III.  The  Giant  .......     204 

IV.  The  Camp 206 

V.     The  Sling  .....  .210 


OLD  STORIES  OF  THE  EAST. 


W 

! 

\v 

I 


THE   GARDEN    OF   DELIGHT. 

ONCE  there  was  a  Man,  and  he  lived  in  a  wonder- 
ful garden.  I  do  not  know  how  large  the  garden 
was,  but  it  was  full  of  beautiful  things.  Four  rivers 
owed  through  it ;  and  there  were  many  little  lakes 
nd  waterfalls,  and  cool,  bubbling  springs.  All  the 
finest  fruits  in  the  world  grew  there,  and  the  trees 
were  full  of  blossoms,  and  the  ground  was  covered 
with  flowers  the  whole  year  round  :  for  there  was 
o  winter  there,  —  no  snow,  nor  ice,  nor  killing 
rost ;  but  every  day  the  warm  winds  blew  softly 
from  the  sea,  and  the  mild  sun  looked  down  from 
the  clear  blue  sky. 

The  Man  had  been  in  the  garden  ever  since  he 
could  remember.  The  great  Master  had  placed 
him  there  to  watch  and  tend  it.  For  a  long  time 

7 


he  was  very  happy,  and  he  had  no  thought  of  any- 
thing but  of  his  work  and  of  the  many  beautiful 
things  that  were  around  him.  After  a  while,  how- 
ever, he  began  to  feel  very  lonely  in  that  great 
garden  all  by  himself.  He  thought  how  much 
better  it  would  be  if  he  could  only  have  some  one 
to  talk  with,  and  to  help  him  in  his  work.  He 
could  not  remember  that  he  had  ever  seen  any 
human  being,  and  he  did  not  know  whether  there 
were  any  other  men  or  women  in  all  the  world. 
But  he  was  very  lonely ;  and  the  more  he  thought 
about  it,  the  lonelier  he  became. 

One  day  the  Master  sent  a  Woman  into  the 
garden,  to  live  there  and  to  be  the  Man's  wife. 
She  was  very  beautiful,  —  graceful  and  tall  and 
fair;  and  when  the  Man  saw  her,  he  was  filled  with 
wonder  and  delight.  And  she  was  pleased  too; 
for  the  Man  was  noble  and  strong  and  brave  and 
handsome,  and  all  that  the  Master  had  told  her 
about  him  was  true.  And  so  the  two  lived  together 
in  the  garden,  and  tended  and  kept  it.  They  had 
a  care  not  only  for  the  flowers  and  fruits,  but  for 
the  animals ;  for  among  the  trees  there  were  many 
birds,  and  all  kinds  of  beasts  roamed  freely  about 
the  garden.  When  the  Man  and  the  Woman 
walked  out,  every  creature  was  glad  to  see  them. 
Lions  and  tigers,  as  well  as  the  timid  little  animals 


of  the  fields,  would  play  before  them ;  and  all  kinds 
of  birds  'would  sing  in  the  branches  above  them. 
Everything  that  lived  in  the  garden  was  tame 
and  gentle,  and  there  was  nothing  that  would  hurt 
any  one  or  make  one  afraid.  There  was  not  even 
a  thorn  or  a  thistle  to  be  found  anywhere. 

In  the  very  center  of  the  garden  there  stood  a 
wonderful  tree  that  was  always  full  of  fine  fruit. 
The  Man  and  the  Woman  went  often  to  look  at  it, 
and  to  sit  in  its  shade;  but  they  did  not  touch 
the  beautiful  apples  that  grew  upon  its  branches. 
The  Master  of  the  garden  had  told  the  Man  to  let 
them  alone. 

"  You  may  eat  every  other  kind  of  fruit,"  he  said, 
"  but  you  must  never,  never  taste  these  apples." 

And  then  he  told  the  Man  what  would  happen  if 
he  should  ever  taste  them.  There  was  a  kind  of 
poison  in  them  that  would  change  his  whole  nature. 
He  would  grow  tired  of  his  work ;  he  would  be- 
come restless  and  ill  at  ease ;  he  would  grumble 
and  complain;  he  would  make  everybody  unhappy; 
he  would  frighten  the  birds,  and  they  would  fly 
away  from  him ;  he  would  abuse  the  beasts,  and 
they  would  become  his  enemies  ;  he  would  neglect 
his  duty,  and  thorns  and  thistles  would  spring  up; 
and  by  and  by  he  would  die. 

Often  when  the  Man  and  the  Woman  looked  at 


IO 


the  fruit,  they  wondered  how  anything  so  beautiful 
could  do  so  much  harm.  But  whenever  the  thought 
came  into  their  minds  that  they  would  like  to  have 
just  one  taste  of  it,  the  Man  would  shake  his  head, 
and  say,  "  The  Master  forbids." 

Then,  hand  in  hand,  they  would  walk  away;  and 
the  birds  in  the  trees  would  sing  as  they  passed, 
and  the  beasts  would  dance  before  them. 

There  was  one  cunning  Beast,  however,  that  did 
not  love  the  Man  and  Woman.  He  was  a  strange 
creature,  that  was  never  so  happy  as  when  plotting 
mischief.  But  in  the  garden,  where  everything  was 
friendly  to  everything  else,  he  did  not  dare  to  do 
any  harm  openly. 

One  day  he  met  the  Woman  alone,  just  after  she 
had  been  looking  at  the  beautiful  fruit.  He  knew 
that  she  wanted  to  taste  it. 

"  Do  you  believe  what  the  Master  told  you  about 
those  apples  ?  "  he  said. 

"Yes,"  she  said;  "for  the  Master  planted  the 
tree,  and  he  knows  all  about  its  fruit." 

"  You  are  very  silly,"  said  the  cunning  Beast.  "  I 
know  all  about  the  fruit,  and  I  tell  you  it  will  not 
hurt  you  at  all." 

"  But  why,  then,  should  the  Master  forbid  us  to 
taste  it  ? "  she  asked. 

"  He  knows  that  it  will  make  you  wise,"  he  said. 


II 


"  He  knows  that  it  will  make  you  like  him ;  and  he 
wants  to  keep  you  poor  and  ignorant  and  weak,  so 
that  you  will  not  know  how  to  do  anything  but  tend 
and  keep  his  garden." 

"  The  fruit  really  is  beautiful,"  said  the  Woman ; 
and  she  turned  and  looked  at  the  tree  again. 

"  And  it  is  good,  too,"  said  the  Beast.  "  Come, 
I'll  get  one  of  the  apples  for  you,  and  you  can  taste 
it.  He  will  never  know." 

And  while  the  Woman  stood  and  hardly  knew 
what  to  do,  the  Beast  ran  and  pulled  one  of  the 
apples  from  the  tree  and  gave  it  to  her.  It  seemed 
to  be  prettier  than  ever,  now  that  it  lay  in  her  hand. 

She  would  just  take  a  little  taste.  It  could  do  no 
harm. 

Ah  !  but  it  was  so  good,  that  she  ate  it  all  up. 

Then  she  thought  it  would  be  a  great  pity  if  the 
Man  could  not  taste  of  the  fruit  too ;  and  she  went 
to  the  tree  and  picked  the  finest  apple  she  could 
reach,  and  ran  to  give  it  to  him. 

"  It  is  not  true  about  those  apples,"  she  said.  "  I 
have  eaten  one  of  them,  and  it  hasn't  hurt  me  at  all. 
And  so  I  have  brought  you  one.  Just  taste  it,  and 
see  how  good  it  is." 

"  Well,  the  Master  will  never  know,"  said  the 
Man;  and  he  took  the  apple,  and  ate  it,  and  thought 
it  was  very  good. 


12 

A  little  while  after  that,  the  Master  came  into  the 
garden  to  look  at  things  and  to  talk  with  the  Man 
and  the  Woman ;  for  he  very  often  came  in  the  cool 
of  the  evening,  and  walked  with  them  among  the 
flowers  and  trees.  They  heard  him  calling  their 
names,  and  they  felt  sure  that  he  had  found  out  all 
about  what  they  had  done.  So,  instead  of  answer- 
ing him  and  running  to  meet  him,  as  they  had 
always  done  before,  they  made  haste  and  hid  them- 
selves in  a  thicket  of  underbrush. 

But  the  Master  saw  them,  and  bade  them  come 
out.  Then  he  asked  what  they  had  been  doing  to 
make  them  afraid  of  him.  Of  course,  they  had 
to  tell  him.  But  the  Man  tried  to  put  all  the 
blame  on  the  Woman. 

"  She  gave  it  to  me,  and  I  did  eat,"  he  said. 

And  then  the  Woman  tried  to  excuse  herself,  and 
said  that  it  was  the  fault  of  the  cunning  Beast. 

"  He  told  me  that  it  would  not  harm  us,"  she 
said.  "  He  told  me  that  if  we  would  eat  of  it,  we 
should  be  wise ;  and  when  he  offered  me  one  of  the 
apples,  it  was  so  beautiful  that  I  could  not  help  but 
taste  it." 

"  But  did  I  not  forbid  you  even  to  touch  the 
fruit  of  the  tree  ? "  said  the  Master.  "  Did  I  not 
tell  you  that,  if  you  did  so,  it  would  cause  grief 
and  pain  and  death  ?  And  now,  strange  to  say, 


13 

you  have  chosen  to  believe  this  Beast  rather  than 
me." 

The  Man  hung  his  head,  and  said  not  a  word; 
and  the  Woman  wept. 

Then  the  Master  told  them  what  he  would  do  to 
punish  them.  As  for  the  Beast,  he  was  turned  into 
a  serpent,  and  has  crawled  on  the  ground  and  been 
hated  by  all  men  ever  since.  And  as  for  the 
Man  and  the  Woman,  they  were  driven  out  of  the 
Garden  of  Delight,  and  were  told  that  they  must 
work  for  their  bread  all  the  rest  of  their  days. 
Thorns  and  thistles  grew  up  in  their  path,  and  the 
birds  stopped  singing  and  flew  from  them  in  fear, 
and  the  wild  beasts  snarled  at  them  and  slunk  away 
into  the  forest.  And  the  Master  placed  a  watch- 
man at  the  gate  of  the  garden,  with  a  sun-bright 
sword  in  his  hand,  so  that  nobody  could  ever  go 
into  it  again. 

The  name  of  the  Man  was  Adam,  and  the  name 
of  the  Woman  was  Eve. 


THE  TWO   BROTHERS. 

WHEN  the  Man  and  the  Woman  were  driven  out 
of  the  Garden  of  Delight,  they  wandered  about  for 
some  time,  hardly  knowing  what  to  do.  The  whole 
world  was  before  them,  and  they  could  go  where 
they  chose ;  and  yet  they  wanted  to  stay  as  near  as 
they  could  to  the  place  where  they  had  passed  so 
many  happy  days.  So  at  last  the  Man  built  a  little 
hut  in  a  pleasant  spot  near  the  bank  of  a  great 
river,  where  the  sun  shone  warm,  and  the  grass 
grew  tall,  and  the  trees  were  laden  with  wild  fruits ; 
and  there  they  lived.  The  Man  dug  up  the  ground, 
and  sowed  seeds,  and  raised  grain ;  and  the  Woman 
kept  the  little  house,  and  learned  to  make  clothing 
of  fig  leaves,  and  afterwards  of  the  skins  of  animals. 

And  so  one  year  after  another  passed  by,  and  in 
time  the  house  was  full  of  children,  and  it  was  as 
much  as  the  Man  could  do  to  find  food  enough  for 
the  many  mouths  that  were  always  wanting  to  be 
fed;  but  the  Woman,  when  she  saw  the  happy, 

14 


smiling  faces  of  her  boys  and  girls,  and  heard  their 
childish  prattle,  would  not  have  given  them  up  for 
all  the  joys  that  she  might  have  had  in  the  Garden 
of  Delight. 

The  eldest  of  the  boys  was  a  headstrong  fellow, 
bold  and  rash;  and  when  he  grew  up,  he  became  a 
farmer,  like  his  father.  The  second  son  was  a  gen- 
tle lad,  but,  with  all  his  gentleness,  so  vain  that  his 
mother  called  him  Vanity;  and  when  he  grew  up 
he  became  a  shepherd,  and  tended  sheep  on  the 
grass-covered  hills. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  young  men  to  carry 
presents  now  and  then  to  the  great  Master,  —  a 
custom  which  their  father  also  observed,  and  which 
they  had  learned  from  him.  One  day  they  went, 
as  usual,  each  with  his  gift.  The  Farmer  carried 
a  basket  of  ripe  fruit,  yellow  and  golden,  mellow 
and  sweet.  The  Shepherd  carried  two  young 
lambs,  white  and  spotless  as  the  snow  on  the 
high  mountain  tops.  The  Master  was  pleased 
with  the  lambs;  but  for  some  reason — I  cannot 
tell  what — he  did  not  care  for  the  basket  of  fruit. 
The  proud  heart  of  the  Shepherd  was  filled  with 
joy,  and  I  do  not  know  how  often  he  taunted  his 
elder  brother  because  he  had  failed  to  please  the 
Master.  The  Farmer  was  at  first  grieved,  and  then 
he  grew  angry;  and  one  day,  when  they  were  in  the 


i6 

field  together,  his  wrath  was  stirred  up  until  he 
could  hold  himself  no  longer :  in  a  blind  fit  of  rage 
he  struck  his  brother  a  fierce  blow,  and  stretched 
him  dead  upon  the  ground. 

When  he  saw  that  the  Shepherd  did  not  move 
nor  speak,  he  was  frightened,  and  ran  and  hid  him- 
self among  the  trees.  But  he  seemed  to  see  the 
white  face  of  his  handsome  brother  always  before 
him;  and  he  heard  a  voice,  saying,  "Where  is  he?  " 

"Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  he  asked;  and  he 
tried  to  stop  his  ears,  so  that  he  should  not  hear 
anything  more. 

But  the  voice  said,  "  What  have  you  done  ?  Your 
brother's  blood  cries  to  me  from  the  ground." 

Then  the  young  man  knew  that  it  was  the 
Master's  voice;  and  he  covered  his  face  and  stood 
trembling. 

"  For  this  thing  which  you  have  done,"  said  the 
Master,  "you  shall  wander  alone  and  unfriended 
through  the  land.  Even  the  earth  shall  be  against 
you ;  for  when  you  till  the  ground,  it  shall  not  yield 
grain,  and  the  trees  shall  refuse  to  bear  fruit  for 
you  as  in  bygone  days,  and  naught  that  you  do  shall 
prosper." 

Then  the  young  man,  in  great  distress,  prayed 
the  1  Taster  that  he  would  somewhat  lighten  his 
punishment.  "  For,"  said  he,  "  if  I  go  out  thus  to 


17 

wander  alone  and  unfriended  through  the  land,  the 
first  man  that  meets  me  will  slay  me." 

So  then  the  Master  put  a  mark  upon  him  to  warn 
all  who  saw  him  that  they  should  do  him  no  harm. 
And  the  young  man  wandered  far  away  into  a 
strange  land  in  the  distant  East.  There  he  made 
his  home,  and  there  he  built  a  city, — the  first  city 
of  which  we  have  any  account.  But  no  matter 
what  he  did,  the  dreadful  mark  was  always  upon 
him ;  and  he  fancied  that  the  air  was  full  of  voices, 
asking,  "Where  is  your  brother?  Where  is  your 
brother  ? "  Thus  he  lived  unfriended  and  in  dis- 
tress all  the  days  of  his  life. 

The  name  of  this  farmer  was  Cain,  a  word  which 
in  ancient  times  meant  Man ;  and  the  name  of  the 
brother  whom  he  slew  was  Abel,  or  Vanity. 

Three  of  the  great-grandsons  of  Cain  became 
men  of  much  renown :  one,  Jabal,  was  the  founder 
of  a  nation  of  tent  dwellers;  one,  Jubal,  was  the 
inventor  of  the  harp ;  and  one,  Tubal-cain,  worked 
in  iron  and  brass,  and  was  the  most  famous  smith 
of  ancient  times. 


STO.    OF   THE    EAST  —  2 


THE   FLOOD   OF   WATERS. 

IN  those  very  early  times  people  lived  much 
longer  than  they  live  now.  Whether  it  was  be- 
cause the  air  was  milder,  or  the  water  purer,  or  their 
food  more  simple,  I  do  not  know;  but  it  is  said 
that  men  often  lived  to  be  seven  hundred,  eight 
hundred,  and  even  nine  hundred  years  old ;  and 
one  man  was  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years 
of  age  when  he  died.  A  person  was  only  in  his 
prime  at  five  hundred,  and  the  golden  days  of 
childhood  and  youth  must  have  lasted  for  at  least 
a  century. 

You  would  think  that  people  were  very  happy  in 
those  days,  but  they  were  not.  They  were  quarrel- 
ing and  fighting  among  themselves  almost  all  the 
time.  Those  who  were  powerful  and  strong  op- 
pressed those  who  were  feeble  and  weak.  The  rich 
robbed  the  poor.  Strange  cruel  men,  called  giants, 
roamed  here  and  there,  filling  the  world  with  terror. 
There  was  no  peace  or  safety  anywhere,  but  only  dis- 


19 

tress  and  fear  and  dreadful  wickedness.  It  seemed 
as  if  it  would  have  been  better  had  the  earth  never 
been  made. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  wickedness  there  was  only 
one  man  who  was  good  and  true.  The  name  of 
this  man  was  Noah,  which,  in  the  language  of  that 
ancient  time,  meant  Comfort.  Why  he  was  called 
by  that  name  I  do  not  know;  but  perhaps  it  was 
because  his  ways  were  so  cheery  and  pleasant,  and 
his  heart  so  kind  and  pure.  He  often  told  his 
neighbors  how  wrong  it  was  to  do  as  they  were 
doing,  and  he  warned  them  that  if  they  did  not 
change  their  ways  some  great  disaster  would  surely 
befall  them.  But  they  only  laughed  at  him,  and 
then  kept  on  in  their  wickedness  as  before. 

At  last,  when  Noah  was  five  hundred  years  old, 
he  began  to  do  a  thing  at  which  everybody  won- 
dered. He  and  his  three  sons  set  to  work  felling 
trees  in  the  woods;  and  when  they  had  cut  a  great 
deal  of  timber,  they  hauled  it  into  one  place,  and 
began  to  shape  the  logs  into  posts  and  beams  and 
rafters  and  planks.  The  neighbors  came  and  looked 
on  while  the  men  worked,  and  then  they  jeered  at 
them. 

"What  are  you  doing?"  they  asked. 

"We  are  building  a  boat,"  said  the  good  man 
quietly. 


2O 

"Ha,  ha!"  laughed  his  neighbors.  "Who  ever 
did  so  foolish  a  thing  as  to  build  a  boat  on  a  hilltop 
a  hundred  miles  from  the  sea  ?  You  have  lost  your 
senses." 

"  I  have  not  lost  my  senses,"  was  the  answer. 
"The  great  God  whom  I  worship  is  angry  with 
you  because  of  your  wickedness,  and  he  is  going  to 
send  a  great  flood  of  water  upon  you  to  destroy  you 
from  the  earth.  It  was  he  that  bade  me  build  this 
boat,  or  ark,  that  so  I  and  my  family  may  be  saved 
alive;  and  you  too  may  be  saved  if  you  will  only 
turn  about  and  live  as  you  ought,  and  help  me  in 
this  work." 

But  they  laughed  and  jeered  all  the  more,  and 
instead  of  helping  they  tried  to  hinder  him. 

It  took  the  good  man  and  his  sons  a  long  time  to 
finish  the  boat,  —  a  hundred  years,  or  nearly  so.  It 
was  a  huge  vessel,  five  hundred  feet  long  and  eighty 
feet  broad.  It  was  three  stories  high,  with  one  door, 
and  one  window  in  the  side,  and  the  whole  was 
covered  with  a  roof.  When  at  last  it  was  all  ready, 
and  made  water-tight  without  and  within,  they  began 
to  store  it  with  food.  They  put  into  it  not  only 
provisions  for  themselves,  but  a  great  supply  of  hay 
and  grain,  and  roots  and  fruit,  and  eatables  of  every 
sort.  Then  they  went  out  into  the  woods  and  fields, 
and  brought  together  all  the  wild  and  tame  animals 


(21) 


22 


that  could  be  found,  —  beasts  and  fowls  and  creep- 
ing things,  two  of  every  kind  that  lived  on  the 
earth.  It  was  a  strange  sight  to  see  these  creatures 
marching  up  the  hill,  and  going  quietly  into  the 
great  boat,  as  if  they  knew  that  it  was  the  only  safe 
place  for  them.  The  lions  did  not  quarrel  with  the 
tigers,  and  the  sheep  were  not  afraid  of  the  wolves; 
but  each  one  took  the  place  that  had  been  set  apart 
for  it  in  the  ark,  and  all  were  as  peaceable  and  kind 
as  though  they  were  members  of  the  same  happy 
family.  When  the  last  of  these  creatures  had  been 
safely  housed,  Noah  and  his  three  sons  and  their 
wives,  eight  persons  in  all,  went  up  into  the  ark, 
and  the  door  was  shut  behind  them. 

Then  the  rain  began  to  fall  in  torrents,  and  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up.  For 
forty  days  and  forty  nights  this  went  on  without 
stopping,  and  the  sea  was  filled  to  overflowing,  and 
the  water  covered  the  land  until  even  the  tops  of 
the  mountains  were  hidden  by  it.  All  the  people 
of  the  land  were  drowned,  and  all  the  cattle  and 
wild  beasts  and  creeping  things  in  field  or  wood 
were  destroyed.  But  the  great  ark  floated  on  the 
waters,  and  the  eight  good  people  and  the  living 
creatures  that  were  housed  within  it  were  kept 
alive  and  safe. 

For  five  long  months  the  land  was  covered  by  the 


23 

flood;  and  those  who  looked  out  of  the  window  of 
the  ark  could  see  nothing  but  water,  water  every- 
where. At  last,  however,  there  came  a  great  wind 
which  seemed  to  drive  the  waters  away;  and  one 
day  the  ark  settled  on  the  top  of  a  high  mountain 
which  men  call  Mount  Ararat  to  this  day.  But 
still  the  waters  sank  very  slowly,  and  the  people  in 
the  ark  dared  not  open  the  door,  for  there  was  no 
place  for  them  to  set  their  feet  outside. 

After  forty  days,  Noah  opened  the  window  and 
let  a  raven  fly  out ;  for  he  wanted  to  see  if  the  bird 
could  live  outside  of  the  ark.  The  raven  flew  back 
and  forth  from  one  bare  mountain  crag  to  another, 
but  it  never  came  back.  By  and  by  Noah  sent  out 
a  dove  in  the  same  way;  but  the  dove  could  find 
nothing  to  eat,  nor  any  safe  place  in  which  to  rest, 
and  so  at  last  returned  to  the  ark. 

A  week  later,  however,  when  the  people  looked 
out  of  the  window,  there  was  no  water  in  sight. 
From  the  high  place  where  the  ark  was  lying  they 
could  see  nothing  but  bare  rocks  and  rugged  peaks 
and  mountain  gorges.  They  did  not  know  that 
the  lower  slopes  were  already  green  with  grass,  and 
that  the  trees  were  budding  and  blossoming  as  in 
the  time  of  spring.  But  one  morning  they  sent 
out  the  dove  again,  and  in  the  evening  she  came 
back  with  an  olive  branch  in  her  mouth. 


24 

"  The  waters  have  dried  up,  and  the  fields  are 
beginning  to  appear,"  they  said. 

They  staid  yet  another  week  in  the  ark,  and  then 
they  sent  out  the  dove  for  the  third  time.  But  she 
did  not  return  again ;  for  now  all  the  fields  were 
dry,  and  she  could  find  plenty  of  food  and  a  place 
to  build  her  nest.  But  Noah  was  not  yet  ready  to 
leave  the  ark. 

"  Wait  a  while/'  he  said,  "  until  the  voice  of  God 
shall  bid  us  go  forth." 

And  so,  for  two  months  more,  they  staid  in  the 
great  vessel,  and  knew  nothing  of  what  was  going 
on  in  the  woods  and  plains  below  them.  But  one 
day  Noah  and  his  sons  lifted  off  the  roof  of  the  ark 
and  looked  around ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  they 
seemed  to  hear  a  voice  bidding  them  go  forth  and 
choose  homes  for  themselves  in  the  land  which  the 
great  flood  had  made  desolate.  Then  they  opened 
wide  the  door  of  the  ark,  and  all  went  out,  and  made 
their  way  down  the  steep  mountain  side  to  the  green 
and  pleasant  plains  below ;  and  the  beasts  and  the 
fowls  and  the  creeping  things  went  out  also,  two  by 
two,  and  scattered  hither  and  thither  over  the  land. 
They  had  been  in  the  ark  just  one  year. 

And  when  Noah  and  his  family  reached  the  foot 
of  the  mountain,  and  saw  the  meadows  dotted  with 
flowers,  and  the  trees  already  laden  with  fruit,  and 


25 

the  land  lying  smiling  and  fair  before  them,  their 
hearts  were  filled  with  thankfulness.  And  they 
built  an  altar  of  stones,  and  worshiped  the  great 
God  who  had  blessed  them  and  kept  them  through 
so  many  perils.  And  while  they  worshiped,  they 
heard  a  voice,  saying,  — 

"  I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  for  man's  sake. 
So  long  as  the  earth  remains,  seedtime  and  harvest, 
and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer  and  winter,  and  day 
and  night,  shall  not  cease." 

Then,  looking  up,  they  saw  a  rainbow  spanning 
the  sky. 

"  It  is  the  bow  of  promise !  "  they  cried. 

After  that,  the  three  sons  of  Noah  went  out  with 
their  wives  into  the  broad  rich  valleys  that  lie  on 
either  side  of  the  great  river  Euphrates;  and  there 
they  built  themselves  homes.  And  by  and  by 
many  children  were  born  to  them,  and  grandchildren 
and  great-grandchildren, —  so  many  that  the  land 
was  full  again  of  busy  people,  just  as  it  had  been 
before  the  great  flood.  Then  some  of  the  people 
journeyed  to  the  East,  and  built  cities  for  themselves 
in  the  vast  plains  beyond  the  snowy  mountains. 
Some  went  to  the  South,  and  found  life  easy  under 
sunny  skies,  where  the  trees  were  always  laden  with 
fruit,  and  there  was  no  need  to  toil,  or,  indeed,  to  take 


26 

any  thought  for  the  morrow.  Some  went  to  the 
North,  where  the  summers  were  short,  and  the  win- 
ters long  and  cold ;  and  they  learned  to  hunt  the 
wild  beasts  in  the  great  woods,  or  to  build  rude  boats 
and  sail  from  place  to  place  along  the  shore  of  the 
sea.  Some  went  to  the  West,  and  herded  cattle  and 
sheep  in  the  green  pasture  lands  that  stretched  away 
and  away,  even  to  the  Great  Sea  and  the  borders  of 
Arabia  the  Happy.  And  some  crossed  over  into  the 
rich  country  of  the  Nile,  where  the  date  palm  flour- 
ished, and  bountiful  crops  of  grain  were  harvested 
almost  every  month  in  the  year.  But  many  still 
remained  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates. 

It  was  thus  that  the  whole   world  was  peopled 
once  again. 


THE   GREAT   CHIEF. 

I.     THE    PROMISE. 

IN  the  fertile  country  many  miles  to  the  west  of 
the  Euphrates  valley  there  lived  a  famous  Chief 
who  was  very  rich.  It  was  not  the  custom  in  that 
land  to  build  houses  or  to  have  any  fixed  place  for 
a  home ;  and  so  this  Chief  dwelt  in  tents,  and  roved 
hither  and  thither,  wherever  his  fancy  led  him,  or 
wherever  the  pastures  were  greenest,  or  the  water 
most  plentiful,  or  his  neighbors  most  kind.  Once 
he  pitched  his  tents  in  the  wooded  valley  of  the 
Jordan,  once  he  dwelt  for  a  year  in  the  treeless 
plains  of  Arabia,  and  once  when  there  was  a  great 
drought  he  went  down  into  the  Land  of  the  Nile, 
and  camped  under  the  palm  trees  in  full  view  of  the 
King's  palace.  But  among  all  the  lands  through 
which  he  had  wandered,  there  was  none  that  seemed 
so  fair  to  him  as  the  grassy  plains  and  vine-covered 
hills  that  lay  between  the  sandy  desert  and  the 
eastern  shore  of  the  Great  Sea.  Oftentimes  when, 

27 


28 

in  the  evening,  he  stood  in  the  door  of  his  tent  and 
looked  towards  the  setting  sun,  he  fancied  that  he 
heard  a  voice,  saying,  — 

"  All  this  lovely  land  that  you  see  shall  be  yours, 
and  your  children's,  and  your  children's  children's, 
forever.  Go  forth  and  walk  through  the  land  in  the 
length  of  it  and  the  breadth  of  it;  for  I  have  prom- 
ised it,  and  will  give  it  unto  you." 

Then  the  great  Chief  would  bow  his  head  and 
worship  and  give  thanks. 

"It  is  the  voice  of  God,"  he  would  say;  "and 
this  land  that  is  so  fair  and  in  every  way  so  lovely 
is  the  Promised  Land." 

And  in  the  early  morning  he  liked  to  stand  by 
the  eastern  door  of  his  tent,  and  watch  the  sun  as  it 
rose  from  the  mystic  regions  far  beyond  the  valley 
of  the  Euphrates.  He  was  now  nearly  a  hundred 
years  old;  but  he  stood  as  tall  and  straight  as  in 
the  days  of  his  youth,  his  eyes  were  bright  and  keen, 
his  step  was  quick  and  firm,  his  voice  was  clear  and 
strong.  The  plain  before  him  was  dotted  with 
flocks  of  sheep,  and  herds  of  cattle,  and  droves  of 
camels;  and  in  the  grove  on  either  side  of  him  were 
clusters  of  tents  where  lived  many  busy  people,— 
serving  women,  and  milkmaids,  and  shepherds,  and 
armed  men,  —  whose  only  thought  was  to  do  his 
bidding. 


29 

Did  I  say  that  the  Chief  was  very  rich  ?  Every- 
thing that  he  could  see  from  the  eastern  door 
of  the  tent,  except  the  land  and  the  sky,  was  his 
own.  Sheep,  cattle,  camels,  tents,  even  the  men 
and  women  and  children,  belonged  to  him ;  for  in 
those  times  one  man  was  often  the  master  and 
owner  of  many  others ;  and,  as  he  was  always  kind 
and  just  and  fatherly,  nobody  complained,  and  no- 
body thought  there  was  anything  wrong  about  it. 

The  great  Chief  had  not  always  been  a  wanderer 
and  dweller  in  tents.  In  his  youth  he  had  lived 
with  his  father  and  his  kinsfolk  in  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates ;  and  it  was  there  that  he  married  his 
wife,  a  dark-eyed  beauty  whom  everybody  called  the 
Princess.  But  when  he  was  seventy-five  years  old, 
he  heard  a  voice,  saying,  — 

"  Get  you  out  from  this  country,  and  from  your 
kindred,  and  from  your  father's  house,  and  go  west- 
ward unto  the  land  that  I  will  show  you." 

"  It  is  the  voice  of  God,"  he  said ;  and  he  fell 
down  to  the  ground  and  worshiped.  And  on  the 
morrow  he  gathered  together  his  goods  and  all  his 
household,  and  went  forth  in  search  of  the  Promised 
Land.  And  that  was  the  way  in  which  he  became 
a  roving  chieftain  in  strange  lands,  and  that  was 
why  he  liked  always  to  watch  the  rising  sun  as  it 
came  up  out  of  its  golden  palace  in  the  East. 


II.     THE    NEW    NAME. 

Now,  at  this  time  the  Chief  and  the  Princess 
had  no  child  of  their  own.  But  they  had  with 
them  a  nephew  named  Lot,  who  was  married  and 
had  a  family  of  fair  daughters,  and  was  almost  as 
rich  in  flocks  and  herds  as  was  the  Chief  himself. 
One  summer  they  pitched  their  tents  in  the  hilly 
country  to  the  west  of  the  Jordan;  for  in  the  lower 
valleys  men  had  built  houses  and  were  tilling  the 
ground,  and  on  the  level  plain  were  two  busy  cities 
called  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  But  there  was  not 
much  water  among  the  hills ;  and  when  the  Chief's 
herdsmen  and  Lot's  herdsmen  met  at  the  wells  to 
water  their  cattle,  they  often  quarreled  and  fought. 
So  at  last  the  Chief  thought  that  it  would  be  better 
for  him  and  his  nephew  to  separate. 

"  See  all  this  fair  country  with  rich  pastures  to 
the  right  and  the  left,"  he  said  to  Lot.  "  There 
is  certainly  room  enough  for  both  of  us.  So  do 
you  choose  any  part  of  the  land  that  you  like  best, 
and  I  will  take  the  rest." 

And  Lot  chose  the  fields  that  lay  in  the  level 
plain,  and  took  a  house  in  Sodom,  which  was  near 
by ;  for  he  thought  that  a  settled  life  in  town  would 
be  pleasanter  than  dwelling,  first  here  and  then 
there,  in  tents.  But  the  Chief  went  a  little  farther 


away,  and  encamped  for  a  time  in  the  grassy  plain 
of  Mamre,  close  by  the  hills  of  Hebron. 

One  night,  as  the  Chief  lay  dreaming  in  his  tent, 
he  was  very  unhappy  because  he  had  no  son  to 
whom  he  might  leave  his  great  riches  and  the 
pleasant  land  that  had  been  promised  to  him  and 
his  children  forever. 

"  How  can  this  promise  come  true,"  he  said, 
"  when  I  have  no  children  ?  " 

But  even  while  he  was  complaining,  he  looked 
up  at  the  sky,  where  millions  of  stars  were  twin- 
kling; and  a  voice  spoke  to  him,  and  said  that  not 
only  should  a  son  be  born  to  him,  but  his  people 
should  in  time  be  more  in  number  than  the 
starry  host  above  him.  The  good  man  wondered 
how  this  could  be,  and  yet  he  believed  and  never 
doubted. 

"  It  is  the  voice  of  God,"  he  said ;  and  he  lifted 
his  hands  towards  heaven,  and  worshiped. 

And  the  voice  said,  "  Men  shall  henceforth  call 
your  name  Abraham;  for  that  is  a  word  which 
means  Father  of  a  Multitude,  and  a  father  of 
nations  you  shall  be." 

III.     THE    STRANGERS. 

The  summer  that  the  Chief  was  ninety-nine  years 
old,  a  strange  and  dreadful  thing  happened. 


32 

One  hot  day  he  was  sitting  in  the  shade  of  his 
tent,  looking  out  over  the  plain  towards  the  city 
where  his  nephew  Lot  was  living.  All  at  once  he 
saw  three  noble  strangers  standing  by  the  tent 
door ;  and,  as  they  seemed  to  be  travelers  from  some 
distant  land,  he  ran  to  meet  and  greet  them,  as  was 
the  custom  of  the  time.  He  bowed  himself  down 
before  one  of  them  who  seemed  to  be  the  leader, 
and  said, — 

"  Pray  do  not  pass  by  without  resting  a  little 
while.  Come  and  sit  down  under  this  tree,  and  I 
will  have  water  brought  that  you  may  wash  your 
feet.  And  then  you  shall  eat  a  little  and  refresh 
yourselves  before  you  pass  on." 

"  You  speak  well,"  said  the  strangers.  "  Let  it 
be  as  you  have  said."  And  they  sat  down  under 
the  tree,  as  they  were  bidden. 

Then  the  Chief  ran  into  the  women's  tent  and 
said  to  his  wife,  "  Be  quick,  and  knead  three  meas- 
ures of  fine  meal,  and  make  it  into  cakes,  and  bake 
them  on  the  hearth;  for  three  strangers  are  wait- 
ing under  the  tree  before  the  door." 

Then  he  ran  into  the  field  and  fetched  the  finest 
calf  from  the  herd,  and  gave  it  to  one  of  his  young 
men  to  kill  and  roast  for  his  strange  guests.  And 
when  it  was  ready,  he  took  butter  and  milk  and  the 
hot  cakes  and  the  choicest  parts  of  the  meat,  and  set 


33 

the  food  before  the  strangers  who  were  waiting 
under  the  tree. 

"  Surely,"  he  whispered  to  his  wife,  "  these  are  not 
common  men ;  for  never  have  I  seen  any  that  were 
so  stately  and  noble.  Their  leader  must  be  the 
Lord  himself,  and  his  two  companions  are  none 
other  than  angels."  And  then  he  hastened  back  to 
wait  upon  them  while  they  ate. 

"  Where  is  your  wife  ? "  asked  one  of  the  stran- 
gers, looking  around. 

"  Behold,  she  is  in  her  tent,"  said  the  Chief. 

The  Princess  was  at  that  moment  standing  inside 
the  door.  Ninety  years  old  though  she  was,  she 
was  as  fair  and  lovely  as  when  the  Chief  had  wooed 
her  in  her  girlhood  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates, 
more  than  seventy  summers  before.  When  the 
strangers  saw  her  blushing  among  the  curtains  of 
the  tent,  they  told  the  Chief  that  the  son  whom 
he  had  waited  for  so  long  would  be  born  that  very 
year.  The  Princess  overheard  what  they  said,  and 
she  laughed,  because  she  did  not  believe  that  it 
could  be  so.  But  her  husband,  the  Chief,  said,  — 

"  It  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  it  must  be  true." 

At  last  the  strangers  arose,  and  started  to  go  on 
their  way ;  and  the  Chief  took  his  staff  in  his  hand 
and  walked  across  the  fields  with  them.  When  they 
reached  the  top  of  the  hill  and  looked  towards  the 

STO.    OF  THE   EAST  —  3 


34 

east,  they  saw  the  fair  cities  of  Sodom  and  Gomor- 
rah lying  in  the  midst  of  the  rich  plain  far  below 
them;  and  around  the  cities  were  orchards  and 
vineyards,  and  fields  of  ripening  grain,  and  broad 
pasture  lands  where  thousands  of  cattle  were 
feeding. 

"  Behold  these  cities,  how  beautiful  they  are!"  said 
the  Chief. 

"  And  yet,"  said  the  strangers,  "they  are  so  wicked 
that  God  will  destroy  them  this  very  night.  We  are 
even  now  on  our  way  to  see  if  there  is  any  good 
thing  in  them  at  all." 

"  Oh,  say  not  so ! "  cried  the  Chief,  much  grieved 
at  the  thought.  "  Surely,  God  will  not  let  the  inno- 
cent perish  in  order  that  he  may  punish  the  doers 
of  evil." 

Then,  while  the  men  walked  on  down  the  hill,  he 
lifted  up  his  hands,  and  prayed  God  to  spare  the 
cities  of  the  plain. 

"  Suppose  there  are  fifty  good  men  in  the  place, 
wilt  thou  not  spare  it,  O  Lord?"  he  said. 

And  the  Lord  said,  "  Yes;  if  I  find  fifty  righteous 
men  in  Sodom,  I  will  spare  the  whole  city  for  their 
sake." 

"Suppose  there  shall  lack  five  of  being  fifty,  wilt 
thou  destroy  the  place  for 'lack  of  five?"  said  the 
Chief. 


35 

And  the  Lord  said,  "  I  will  not  destroy  it  if  I  find 
forty-five." 

"  Suppose  forty  good  men  should  be  found,"  said 
the  Chief. 

And  the  Lord  said,  "  I  will  spare  it  for  the  sake 
of  forty." 

"  Oh,  have  patience  with  me,  and  do  not  be 
angry!"  said  the  Chief;  "  but  suppose  there  should 
be  thirty?" 

And  the  Lord  said,  "  I  will  not  destroy  the  place 
if  thirty  good  men  are  there." 

"  Nor  if  there  are  twenty  ? "  said  the  Chief. 

"  For  the  sake  of  the  twenty,  I  will  spare  it,"  was 
the  answer. 

"Oh,  have  patience  once  more ! "  said  the  Chief; 
u  but  suppose  there  are  only  ten  good  men  among 
so  many  ? " 

And  the  Lord  said,  "I  will  spare  them  all,  that  so 
the  ten  shall  not  perish." 

Then  the  Chief  turned  about,  and  walked  thought- 
fully back  to  his  tents.  But  when  the  strangers 
went  down  into  Sodom,  they  found  only  one  good 
man  in  all  the  city,  and  that  was  Lot,  the  nephew 
of  Abraham.  So,  after  they  had  warned  him  and 
made  him  hasten  out  of  danger,  there  came  a 
great  storm  of  fire  and  hail ;  and  the  cities  were 
burned,  and  the  people  of  the  plains  destroyed ;  and 


36 

the  beautiful  valley  was  filled  with  salt  water,  and 
became  the  place  of  a  sea,  that  is  called  the  Dead 
Sea  even  to  this  day. 

And  when  Chief  Abraham  arose  in  the  morning 
and  looked  towards  the  east,  he  saw  the  smoke  of 
the  country  going  up  as  the  smoke  of  a  furnace ; 
and  he  knew  that  the  cities  of  the  plain  were  no 
more. 

IV.     THE    BURNT    OFFERING. 

When  Chief  Abraham  was  a  hundred  years  old 
and  his  wife  ninety-one,  the  thing  came  true  that 
had  been  so  often  promised,  and  a  son  was  born  to 
them ;  and  they  named  the  boy  Laughter,  because 
his  mother  had  laughed  at  the  thought  of  such  old 
people  having  a  child.  And  there  was  great  joy  in 
the  tents  of  the  Chief,  because  now  there  was  an 
heir  who  after  a  while  would  be  the  owner  of  the 
flocks  and  herds,  and  silver  and  gold,  which  the  old 
man  had  brought  together ;  and  a  great  feast  was 
made,  to  which  even  the  kings  of  the  land  were  in- 
vited, —  a  feast  the  memory  of  which  has  been  kept 
in  mind  even  to  our  own  day. 

And  the  child  grew,  and  became  a  fine  lad,  hand- 
some and  quick  and  strong;  and  his  father,  rich 
though  he  was,  loved  and  prized  him  more  highly 
than  all  his  wealth.  One  day  the  thought  came 


37 

into  Chief  Abraham's  mind  that  God  had  given 
him  everything,  and  therefore  he  ought  to  show  his 
gratitude  by  offering  his  most  precious  possession 
to  God.  But  what  was  hfe  most  precious  posses- 
sion ?  Was  it  not  the  boy  Laughter  ?  And  could 
he  give  him  up  ?  Yes,  he  would  do  anything  to 
obey  the  call  of  duty. 

In  those  times  people  thought  there  was  only  one 
way  of  giving  anything  to  God,  and  that  was  to  lay 
it  on  an  altar,  and,  after  it  had  been  slain,  to  set  fire 
to  the  wood  beneath  it  and  burn  it  to  ashes.  They 
thought,  that,  as  the  flames  seized  upon  and  removed 
it  from  sight,  God  took  it  to  himself. 

So,  when  Chief  Abraham  had  become  fully  per- 
suaded of  his  duty,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  offer 
the  boy  Laughter  to  God.  One  morning  very  early 
he  saddled  a  donkey,  and  took  with  him  the  boy 
and  two*servants,  and  set  out  for  a  mountain,  three 
days'  journey  away,  where  he  had  before  offered 
sacrifices  to  God.  When  they  came  to  the  foot 
of  the  mountain,  he  said  to  his  men, — 

"  Stay  here  with  the  donkey,  and  I  and  the  lad 
will  go  up  alone." 

Then  he  put  a  bundle  of  wood  for  the  altar  upon 
Laughter's  shoulders,  and  took  the  long  knife  in 
one  hand  and  a  fagot  of  fire  in  the  other ;  and  the 
two  began  to  climb  the  mountain  together. 


38 

By  and  by  the  lad  said,  "  My  father !  " 

"  What  is  it,  my  son  ?  "  said  Chief  Abraham. 

"  Here  is  the  wood,  and  there  is  the  fire,"  said 
the  lad ;  "  but  where  is  the  lamb  for  the  offer- 
ing?" 

"  My  son,"  said  the  old  man,  "  God  will  provide 
a  lamb  for  the  offering." 

And  the  two  went  on  together. 

When  they  came  to  the  top  of  the  mountain, 
they  built  an  altar  of  stones,  and  laid  the  wood  upon 
it.  And  the  Chief  bound  his  son  with  cords,  and 
laid  him  upon  the  wood  on  the  altar.  And  he 
stretched  out  his  hand  and  took  the  knife  to  slay 
the  lad.  But  while  his  hand  was  still  raised,  he 
heard  a  voice  that  seemed  to  come  out  of  the  sky, 
calling  him  by  name. 

"  Here  I  am,"  he  answered,  without  looking  up. 

"  Touch  not  the  lad,"  said  the  voice.  "  Now, 
indeed,  is  it  clear  that  you  fear  the  Lord;  for  you 
have  not  withheld  your  son,  your  only  son,  from 
him." 

And  then  the  Chief  lifted  his  eyes,  and  saw,  close 
by,  a  ram  caught  by  the  horns  in  the  bushes.  And 
he  quickly  loosed  Laughter  from  the  cords  that 
bound  him,  and  then  laid  the  ram  on  the  wood  in 
his  place.  And  when  they  had  slain  the  ram, 
and  burnt  it  as  an  offering,  the  two  went  down 


39 

the  mountain  together,  rejoicing.  And  after  that, 
Abraham  pitched  his  tents  by  the  wells  of  Beer- 
sheba,  far  to  the  south,  near  the  borders  of  the 
great  sandy  desert.  And  there  they  dwelt  many 
years. 

V.     THE    FAITHFUL    SERVANT. 

One  morning  in  early  summer  Chief  Abraham 
sat  in  the  door  of  his  tent,  and  talked  with  his  head 
servant,  who  had  the  care  of  all  his  goods,  and 
managed  all  his  business.  He  talked  of  his  old 
home,  where  he  had  lived  as  a  child  and  as  a  young 
man,  in  the  far-away  valley  of  the  river  Euphrates. 
He  talked  of  his  kinsfolk,  who  were  still  in  that 
eastern  country,  and  whom  he  had  not  seen  for 
now  almost  fifty  years.  He  talked  of  his  own 
wandering  life,  and  of  the  land  flowing  with  milk 
and  honey  which  God  had  promised  to  give  to  his 
children  and  his  children's  children,  to  hold  as 
their  own  forever. 

"And  now,"  he  said,  "here  is  my  son  Laughter, 
who  was  born  in  this  new  western  land.  He  has 
never  seen  his  father's  kindred,  nor  visited  his 
father's  native  place.  He  is  now  a  man,  and  he 
ought  before  long  to  take  to  himself  a  wife ;  for  I  am 
a  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  old,  and  soon  my 
wealth  will  be  his.  But  I  cannot  bear  to  have  him 


40 

wed  any  of  the  rude  maidens  of  this  barbarous  land. 
Not  one  of  them  is  worthy  to  be  his  wife." 

"  But,  my  master,"  said  the  servant,  "  some  of 
them  are  very  beautiful,  and  they  are  the  daughters 
of  kings.  How  can  we  do  better  than  choose  one 
of  them  for  the  young  man  ?  " 

"  I  will  tell  you/'  said  the  Chief.  "  We  will  find 
a  wife  for  him  among  the  daughters  of  my  kinsmen 
in  the  valley  of  the  great  river  where  I  lived  in  my 
youth.  You  shall  get  ready  at  once,  and  go  and 
choose  one  for  him,  and  bring  her  hither." 

"  But  what  if  the  maiden  will  not  come  ?  "  said 
the  servant.  "  Wouldn't  it  be  better  for  Laughter 
to  go  with  me,  and  choose  for  himself?  For  no 
maiden  can  well  refuse  when  she  sees  how  comely 
and  fair  the  young  man  is." 

"  Not  so !  "  cried  the  Chief.  "  My  son  shall  not 
go  with  you.  He  might  be  tempted  to  make  his 
home  in  that  country  where  life  is  easy.  But  he 
must  stay  here  ;  for  all  these  rich  plains  and  wooded 
hills,  as  far  as  you  can  see  from  yonder  mountain 
top,  are  to  be  his  and  his  children's  forever.  The 
God  whom  I  worship  has  promised  it.  No,  you 
shall  not  take  him  with  you. " 

"  But  how  shall  I  find  the  way  ? "  asked  the 
servant.  "  The  country  is  far  distant,  and  there 
are  no  roads  thither." 


"  The  good  angels  will  go  before  you,  and  show 
you  the  way,"  said  the  Chief. 

"  And  then,  if  no  maiden  will  come  back  with  me, 
what  shall  I  do  ?  "  said  the  servant. 

"  Then  you  shall  return,  and  you  will  be  free  from 
blame,"  said  the  Chief.  "  But  do  you  make  ready 
and  start  upon  your  journey  this  very  day." 

Then  the  servant  chose  ten  of  his  master's  best 
camels,  and  loaded  some  of  them  with  food  for  the 
long  journey,  and  some  of  them  with  rich  gifts  of 
gold  and  silver  and  perfumes  and  beautiful  gar- 
ments ;  and  while  it  was  yet  morning,  he  set  out 
across  the  great  plains  towards  the  distant  valley  of 
the  river  Euphrates.  And  a  company  of  his  master's 
trustiest  men  went  with  him  as  guards  and  helpers. 

Much  of  the  way  was  across  broad,  trackless 
plains,  and  among  rocky  hills,  where  there  was  no 
road  nor  other  pathway  ;  much  of  the  way  was  over 
a  barren,  sandy  desert,  where  the  sun  shone  hot  and 
no  living  thing  could  be  seen.  And  it  was  many 
weary  days  before  the  servant,  with  his  little  com- 
pany, reached  the  green  valleys,  and  knew  that  they 
were  in  the  country  of  his  master's  kindred.  Late 
one  afternoon  he  came  to  a  little  city,  and  stopped 
outside  of  the  walls  by  a  well  of  water.  It  was  about 
the  time  of  day  when  the  women  of  the  place  liked 
to  come  out  with  their  pitchers  and  draw  water  for 


42 

use  in  the  household.  The  servant  made  his  camels 
lie  down  about  the  well ;  and  then  he  prayed  that 
the  God  whom  his  master  worshiped  would  speed 
the  day,  and  show  kindness  to  him,  and  give  him  a 
sign,  that  so  his  tiresome  journey  might  be  at  an 
end. 

"  Behold,"  he  said,  "  I  stand  here  by  the  well  of 
water,  and  the  maidens  of  the  city  come  out  to  fill 
their  pitchers.  I  will  say  to  the  fairest  among  them, 
4  Let  me  drink  a  little  water  of  thy  pitcher ; '  and  if 
one  of  them  shall  say,  '  Drink,  and  I  will  give  your 
camels  drink  also/  let  that  be  a  sign  that  she  is  the 
maiden  whom  I  shall  choose  for  Laughter.  In  that 
way  I  shall  know  that  kindness  is  shown  to  my 
master." 

While  he  was  yet  speaking,  a  fair  young  girl  came 
tripping  down  from  the  city  gate  with  her  pitcher 
on  her  shoulder.  As  she  came  nearer,  the  servant 
thought  that  he  had  never  seen  any  one  so  beauti- 
ful. And  she  went  down  the  stone  steps  into  the 
well,  and  came  up  with  her  pitcher  dripping.  And 
the  servant  ran  to  meet  her,  and  said,  — 

"  Let  me,  I  pray  thee,  drink  a  little  water  of  thy 
pitcher ! " 

And  she  let  down  the  pitcher  upon  her  hand, 
and  said,  "  Drink,  my  lord ! "  And  when  he  had 
drunk  as  much  as  he  wanted,  she  said  kindly,  "  Now 


(43) 


44 

I  will  draw  water  for  your  camels,  and  let  them 
drink  also." 

And  she  ran  and  emptied  her  pitcher  into  the 
trough,  and  hastened  back  to  the  well  to  draw 
more  water.  And  the  man  stood  and  watched  her, 
and  wondered  if  indeed  the  good  angels  had  shown 
him  the  way,  and  the  God  of  his  master  had  been 
kind  to  him ;  for  the  maiden  was  so  beautiful,  and 
withal  so  kind,  that  he  could  not  think  of  choosing 
any  one  else  to  be  young  Laughter's  wife. 

When  the  camels  had  done  drinking,  and  the  girl 
had  filled  her  pitcher  again  with  clear,  cool  water  to 
carry  home,  he  gave  her  a  golden  earring  of  great 
beauty,  and  two  golden  bracelets  for  her  wrists.  A 
shrewd  man  he  was,  and  he  knew  right  well  what 
would  delight  the  maiden's  heart.  Then  he  asked 
her  whose  daughter  she  was,  and  whether  there  was 
room  in  her  father's  house  for  him  to  lodge  there. 
She  told  him  both  her  father's  name  and  her  grand- 
father's, and  said,  — 

"  There  is  room  enough  in  our  house  for  you,  and 
for  all  the  men  that  are  with  you ;  and  we  have 
plenty  of  straw  and  food  for  your  camels." 

The  servant  bowed  down,  and  thanked  the  God  of 
his  master  for  the  kindness  that  had  been  shown 
him ;  for  the  name  of  the  maiden's  grandfather  was 
that  of  Chief  Abraham's  own  brother,  whom  he 


45 

had  left  behind   him  when    he    went  to    the   new 

western    country    so    long    ago,  and  the    servant 

knew  that  he  had  found  his  master's  kindred. 


VI.     BEAUTY    AND    LAUGHTER. 

The  young  girl  hastily  took  up  her  pitcher  again, 
and  then,  carrying  it  on  her  shoulder,  ran  home  to 
her  mother's  house  in  the  city.  She  wanted  to 
show  her  mother  and  her  brother  the  pretty  earring 
and  the  bracelets  that  the  stranger  had  given  her. 
She  hurriedly  told  them  all  that  had  happened  to 
her  at  the  well ;  and  the  whole  family  crowded 
around  her  to  see  the  beautiful  gifts.  And  when 
she  had  finished  her  story,  her  brother  ran  out  to 
the  well  to  find  the  stranger,  and  lead  him  to  the 
house. 

"  Come  in,  come  in ! "  he  said.  "  Why  do  you 
wait  outside  the  walls?  Our  house  is  all  ready 
for  you,  and  we  have  plenty  of  food  and  shelter 
for  the  camels." 

Then  the  servant  went  with  him  to  the  house ; 
and  they  took  off  the  packs  from  the  camels'  backs, 
and  gave  them  straw  and  food.  And  the  brother 
had  water  brought  for  the  servant  and  the  men 
who  were  with  him  to  wash  their  feet. 

"  Now  come  in  and  eat  supper  with  us,"  he  said. 


46 

"  I  will  not  eat  until  I  have  told  my  errand,"  said 
the  servant. 

"  Tell  it,"  said  the  maiden's  mother,  "  and  we  will 
eat  afterwards." 

Then  the  servant  told  them  who  his  master  was, 
and  how  rich  and  great  he  had  become  in  the  new 
western  country  where  he  had  gone  fifty  years 
before.  And  he  told  them  about  the  young  man 
whom  they  called  Laughter,  and  who  was  to  have 
all  his  master's  wealth ;  and  how  there  was  no 
maiden  in  all  the  western  land  who  was  good 
enough  to  be  the  young  man's  wife;  and  how  the 
great  Chief  had  now  sent  his  servant  to  this  his 
fatherland  to  find  a  wife  for  Laughter  among  the 
fair  daughters  of  his  own  kindred. 

"  And  I  came  this  day  unto  the  well,"  he  said, 
"  and  I  asked  there  for  a  sign ;  and  before  I  had 
done  asking,  the  sign  came  true.  This  fair  maiden 
came  out  of  the  city  with  her  pitcher  on  her 
shoulder;  and  she  went  down  into  the  well,  and 
drew  water ;  and  I  said,  *  Let  me  drink,  I  pray  thee ! ' 
And  she  made  haste  and  let  down  her  pitcher  from 
her  shoulder,  and  said,  *  Drink,  and  I  will  give  thy 
camels  drink  also ! '  So  I  drank,  and  she  made 
the  camels  drink.  And  I  said,  *  Whose  daughter 
are  you,  my  fair  maiden  ? '  And  she  told  me  her 
father's  name,  and  her  grandfather's.  And  I  knew 


47 

that  the  God  of  my  master  had  prospered  me,  and 
had  led  me  in  the  right  way  to  take  the  grand- 
daughter of  my  master's  brother  to  his  son 
Laughter.  Now,  I  have  told  you  my  errand, 
and  you  know  why  I  am  here.  Tell  me  if  you 
will  deal  kindly  with  my  master,  your  kinsman; 
for  if  not,  I  will  go  my  way,  and  trouble  you  no 
more." 

And  the  girl's  brother  and  her  mother  said, 
"  This  thing  has  been  ordered  by  the  God  of  your 
master,  and  we  have  no  right  to  speak  either  good 
or  bad  about  it.  Here  is  the  maiden  herself,  —  the 
maiden  so  rightfully  called  Beauty.  Take  her,  and 
go,  and  let  her  be  the  wife  of  your  master's  son, 
as  your  master's  God  has  ordered." 

When  the  servant  heard  this,  he  bowed  himself 
to  the  ground,  and  gave  thanks.  Then  he 
brought  rare  jewels  of  silver  and  gold,  and  rich 
garments  of  linen  and  silk,  and  gave  them  to 
Beauty,  and  to  her  mother  and  her  brother.  And 
there  was  a  great  feast  in  the  house  that  night, 
and  the  wonderful  news  was  told  throughout  the 
city;  and  Beauty,  clad  like  a  princess,  was  more 
beautiful  than  any  other  maiden  that  had  ever  been 
seen  in  the  green  valleys  of  the  Euphrates. 

In  the  morning  the  servant  arose  with  his  men, 
and  said, — 


48 

"  Let  me  go  back  now  to  my  master." 

But  Beauty's  mother  begged  him  to  let  the 
maiden  stay  with  her  a  few  days  longer,  at  least 
ten. 

"  My  master's  God  has  prospered  me,"  said  the 
servant;  "and  so  I  beg  that  you  will  not  hinder, 
but  let  us  go  at  once." 

"Well,"  said  the  mother,  "we  will  call  the 
damsel,  and  ask  her." 

They  called  Beauty,  and  said,  "  Beauty,  will 
you  go  with  this  man  to-day  ?  " 

And  she  said,  "  Yes,  I  will  go." 

So,  while  they  all  wept,  they  blessed  her,  and 
bade  her  Godspeed. 

"  Thou  art  our  fair  sister,  so  well  beloved,"  they 
said.  "  In  the  ages  to  come,  may  thousands  of 
millions  of  people  remember  thee  and  think  of 
thee  as  their  mother,  and  may  thy  children  and 
•thy  children's  children  wax  great  in  the  earth,  and 
rule  over  all  their  enemies." 

And  Beauty  and  her  nurse  and  her  waiting 
wromen  rode  upon  the  camels,  and  followed  the 
servant  and  his  men  across  the  barren  desert  and 
the  broad  green  plains  to  the  rich  new  country 
in  the  distant  West. 

At  the  end  of  many  days  they  came  into  a  land 
where  there  were  great  herds  of  cattle,  and  flocks 


49 

of  sheep,  and  droves  of  camels ;  and  the  servant  told 
her  that  all  these  were  only  a  part  of  the  riches  of 
his  master.  And  it  so  happened  that  Laughter  was 
walking  in  the  fields  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  and 
thinking  of  many  things,  but  most  of  his  father's 
kindred  in  the  far  East,  and  of  the  servant  who  had 
been  sent  thither  to  find  him  a  wife.  Suddenly,  on 
looking  up,  he  saw  the  ten  camels  coming  across 
the  plain.  They  were  quite  near  to  him,  and  he 
could  see  that  there  were  women  riding.  He  won- 
dered what  kind  of  wife  his  father's  servant  had 
brought  him  ;  but  he  could  not  see  her  face  for  the 
heavy  veil  that  was  over  it. 

For  when  Beauty  first  saw  Laughter  walking  in 
the  fields,  she  had  asked  the  servant,  "  What  man 
is  that  who  is  walking  this  way  ? "  for  she  was 
pleased  to  see  how  noble  and  handsome  he  seemed. 

"  That  is  my  young  master,"  answered  the  servant. 

Then  Beauty  was  glad,  and  she  covered  herself 
with  her  veil.  And  when  she  met  Laughter,  she 
alighted  from  her  camel,  and  Laughter  led  her  to 
his  mother's  tent,  where  they  were  wedded ;  and 
when  she  lifted  the  veil  from  her  blushing  face,  and 
he  saw  how  wonderfully  fair  she  was,  he  was  very 
glad,  and  he  loved  her.  And  Beauty  and  Laughter 
lived  long  and  happily  together  in  their  own  tent 
in  the  midst  of  the  green  plains.  And.  their  father, 

STO.    OF  THE   EAST  —  4 


So 

Chief  Abraham,  lived  yet  fifty  years,  and  died  at  the 
good  old  age  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five. 

And  Laughter  and  Beauty  had  two  sons,  both  of 
whom  became  men  of  renown.  One  of  them  lived 
the  life  of  a  roving  chieftain  in  the  land  that  borders 
the  great  Arabian  desert.  His  name  was  Esau, 
but  he  was  often  called  Edom,  or  the  Red,  on  ac- 
count of  his  ruddy  complexion  and  the  color  of  his 
hair ;  and  he  gave  his  name  to  the  narrow  sea  that 
lies  between  Arabia  and  the  Land  of  the  Nile.  The 
other  son  of  Laughter  and  Beauty  was  a  shrewd 
man,  always  skillful  in  trade,  and  sure  to  get  the 
better  of  every  bargain.  After  deceiving  his  father 
and  greatly  wronging  his  brother,  he  fled,  while  still 
quite  young,  to  his  mother's  people  in  the  little  city 
by  the  Euphrates.  There  he  married;  and  there, 
by  his  energy  as  well  as  by  his  craftiness,  he  became 
very  rich  in  sheep  and  cattle  and  camels  and  silver. 
Afterwards,  when  he  heard  that  his  father  was  still 
alive,  and  ready  to  forgive  him,  he  returned  with  his 
family  and  his  servants,  and  his  flocks  and  herds,  to 
the  western  land  where  he  had  been  born.  There 
he  was  reconciled  with  his  brother,  and  there  he 
won  by  his  uprightness  and  valor  the  noble  name  of 
Israel,  which  in  his  own  language  meant  the  Prince. 

In  that  same  language  the  word  for  laughter  was 
Isaac,  and  the  word  for  beauty  was  Rebecca. 


THE   MASTER   OF   THE   LAND  OF  THE    NILE. 


I.     THE    DREAMER. 


THERE  dwelt  in  Hebron,  at  the  foot  of  one  of  the 
grass-covered  hills,  a  rich  man,  who  had  gained  a 
part  of  his  wealth  by  his  shrewdness  in  trade  and 
by  dealing  unfairly  with  his  brother.  In  his 
younger  days  people  had  called  him  Supplanter 
(or,  in  their  own  language,  Jacob),  because  of  his 
grasping  nature,  which  seemed  to  have  belonged  to 
him  even  from  his  birth.  Later  in  life,  however, 
he  had  become  a  much  better  man,  and,  because 
of  his  uprightness  and  valor,  he  had  gained  for  him- 
self the  title  of  the  Prince  (or,  in  his  own  tongue, 
Israel).  When,  in  his  old  age,  he  settled  at  Hebron, 
he  was,  as  I  have  said,  very  rich.  He  had  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  sheep  and  cattle,  besides  droves  of 
camels  and  donkeys ;  and  he  had  twelve  sons. 

Ten  of  his  sons  were  grown-up  men,  bearded  and 
tall  and  strong ;  but  the  youngest  was  a  little  babe, 
and  the  next  to  the  youngest  was  a  slender  lad  still 

51 


52 

in  his  teens.  The  Prince  loved  this  lad  more  than 
all  the  rest  of  his  children,  perhaps  because  he  was 
gentle  and  wise,  perhaps  because  he  was  the  son  of 
his  favorite  wife,  and  had  been  born  to  him  in  his 
old  age.  The  older  brothers  said  that  the  lad  was 
their  father's  pet,  and  they  began  to  hate  him,  and 
seldom  spoke  kindly  to  him. 

"  What  do  you  think  I  dreamed  last  night  ? " 
said  the  lad  one  day  when  they  were  all  in  the 
field  together. 

"  How  do  we  know  ?  "  they  said.  "  Why  should 
we  care  anything  for  your  silly  dreams  ?  " 

"  Well,  I  had  a  very  strange  dream,"  he  said. 
"  I  dreamed  that  we  were  in  the  harvest  field,  and 
that  each  one  of  us  had  bound  up  a  sheaf  of  grain. 
Then  my  sheaf  stood  up  in  its  place,  and  every  one 
of  your  sheaves  bowed  and  fell  down  to  the  ground 
before  it." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?  "  said  his  brothers.  "  Do 
you  mean  to  say  that  we  shall  all  bow  down  to  you 
some  time  ?  We'll  see  about  that." 

The  next  day,  when  the  Prince  and  his  sons  were 
sitting  in  the  shade  of  the  tent,  the  lad  said,- 

"  I  had  another  dream  last  night." 

"  You'd  better  not  tell  it,"  said  the  eldest  brother. 

"But  I  will  tell  it,"  said  the  lad.  "I  dreamed 
that  I  was  a  bright  star  in  the  sky,  and  that  the  sun 


S3 

and  the  moon  and  eleven  stars  bowed  down  and 
fell  on  their  faces  before  me." 

"  Worse  and  worse !  "  cried  the  young  men. 
"  Yesterday  you  had  your  brothers  falling  in  the 
dust  at  your  feet.  Now  you  want  to  make  believe 
that  your  father  and  mother  will  also  humble  them- 
selves before  you." 

"  I  did  not  say  so,"  said  the  lad. 

"  But  you  meant  it,"  said  they.  "  Who  is  the  sun 
if  it  is  not  our  father  ?  and  who  is  the  moon  if  it  is 
not  our  mother  ?  and  who  are  the  eleven  stars  of 
your  dream  if  they  are  not  your  brothers  ?  " 

"  I  never  thought  of  my  dream  in  that  way,"  said 
the  lad. 

But  his  brothers  were  all  very  angry;  and  his 
father  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  scolded  him 
sharply.  The  lad  burst  into  tears,  and  ran  to  hide 
himself  behind  the  curtains  of  the  tent. 

After  that  the  young  men  hated  him  all  the 
more,  and  they  nicknamed  him  the  Dreamer.  But 
his  father  the  Prince  seemed  to  love  him  even 
better  than  before. 

II.     THE   JOURNEY. 

That  summer  there  was  but  little  rain,  and  the 
ground  was  so  dry  that  the  grass  could  not  grow. 
The  fields  were  no  longer  green,  and  the  beautiful 


54 

hills  of  Hebron  were  brown  and  bare  as  a  desert. 
There  was  not  enough  pasture  there  to  keep  the 
herds  and  flocks  alive. 

At  last  the  Prince  sent  his  servants  away  with 
the  cattle  to  find  some  greener  spot  in  the  river 
valleys  far  to  the  north.  As  for  the  poor  sheep 
and  lambs,  the  ten  sons  undertook  to  drive  them  to 
the  plains  of  Shechem,  fifty  miles  away.  They  had 
spent  a  summer  at  Shechem  once  before,  and  had 
done  some  wild  and  wicked  deeds  there.  They 
had  even  destroyed  the  little  town  that  stood  in 
the  midst  of  the  fields,  and  had  killed  some  of  the 
people ;  and  they  knew  that  now  the  place  was 
deserted,  and  that  no  one  would  dispute  their  right 
to  pasture  their  flocks  there.  They  remembered 
that  there  were  many  springs  of  water  in  the  fields, 
and  they  felt  sure  that  they  would  find  plenty  of 
grass. 

After  the  men  had  gone  away  with  the  sheep 
and  cattle,  it  was  very  lonely  in  Hebron.  Day  after 
day  passed  by,  and  it  was  always  the  same,  —  the 
camels  and  donkeys  browsing  among  the  thistles 
and  shrubs  on  the  hillsides,  the  women  at  work  in 
the  tents,  the  children  playing  the  same  games  in 
the  dust  and  sand,  and  the  hot  sun  hanging  high 
in  the  sky.  Once  a  caravan,  or  company  of  mer- 
chants, passed  by,  with  a  long  line  of  camels  and 


55 

armed  men,  carrying  goods  of  all  kinds,  cloths  and 
spices  and  gold,  from  the  far  East  down  into  the 
rich  country  of  the  Nile.  Ah,  what  a  great  event 
that  was !  Everybody  went  out  to  see  the  wonder- 
ful caravan  and  the  wonderful  things  that  \vere 
with  it;  and  the  Prince  bought  many  handsome 
and  curious  things  for  his  wives  and  their  servants 
and  the  children. 

But  after  that,  the  place  seemed  lonelier  than 
before,  and  still  no  word  came  from  the  ten  men 
who  had  gone  down  to  the  fields  of  Shechem. 

One  day  the  Prince  said  to  the  lad,  — 

"  I  wonder  how  the  boys  are  getting  along  with 
the  sheep,  and  whether  they  found  the  pastures  as 
green  and  fresh  as  they  expected !  I  wish  I  had 
a  trusty  man  that  I  could  spare.  I  would  send  him 
down  to  Shechem  to  find  your  brothers,  and  see 
whether  all  is  well  with  them." 

"  Let  me  go,  father !  "  said  the  boy. 

"What!"  cried  the  old  man.  uDo  you  think  that 
I  would  send  you  on  an  errand  so  far,  and  alone  ? 
You  are  only  a  boy,  and  you  do  not  know  what  dan- 
gers you  might  meet  with  between  here  and  She- 
chem. Wild  beasts  roam  in  the  woods  and  among 
the  hills,  and  Arab  robbers  ride  over  the  plains." 

"  Surely  you  don't  think  I  am  afraid !  "  said  the 
lad.  "  Haven't  you  often  told  me  of  the  long 


56 

journey  which  you  made  when  you  were  a  boy  no 
older  than  I  am,  —  how  you  went  all  alone  across 
the  great  plains  to  the  far-off  land  of  the  Euphrates? 
And  do  you  think  that  I  ought  to  be  afraid  to  take 
this  little  trip  down  to  Shechem?  " 

"  I  know  you  are  not  afraid/'  said  his  father,  "and 
I  do  you  a  wrong  to  be  afraid  for  you.  So  get 
yourself  ready,  and  set  out  this  very  day.  See 
whether  your  brothers  are  well,  and  whether  the 
sheep  have  found  good  pasture,  and  then  come 
home  and  tell  me." 

It  did  not  take  the  boy  long  to  get  ready  for  the 
journey.  All  that  he  needed  to  carry  was  a  little 
leathern  pouch  with  food  in  it  for  three  days,  a 
leathern  bottle  full  of  water,  and  a  pair  of  light  san- 
dals, which  he  would  slip  on  his  feet  when  he  had 
to  cross  rough  and  stony  places  among  the  hills. 

"  You  may  leave  your  old  cloak,"  said  his  father. 
"  This  is  your  birthday,  and  I  have  a  present  for 
you." 

Then  he  opened  a  chest  and  took  from  it  the 
most  beautiful  coat  that  the  boy  had  ever  seen. 
The  Prince  had  bought  it  of  one  of  the  merchants 
who  had  passed  with  the  caravan;  and  it  had  been 
woven  in  a  strange  land  in  the  far-distant  East. 

"  O  father !  "  cried  the  boy.  "  Is  the  pretty  coat 
for  me?  And  may  I  wear  it  to  Shechem  ?  " 


57 

"  Certainly  it  is  for  you,"  said  his  father;  and  he 
threw  the  rich  garment  upon  the  boy's  shoulders, 
and  fastened  it  at  the  neck  with  a  silver  clasp.  It 
was  richly  woven  of  silk  and  linen,  with  threads  of 
crimson  and  purple  and  gold  running  through  it 
from  top  to  bottom,  At  the  waist  it  was  held  in 
by  a  belt  of  finest  leather  buckled  with  a  silver 
buckle ;  and  the  soft,  many-colored  folds  fell  almost 
to  the  boy's  knees. 

"  O  father,  how  beautiful  it  is,  and  how  kind  you 
are ! "  he  said,  and  the  tears  came  into  his  eyes  for 

joy- 
Then  he  kissed  his  father  and  his  baby  brother, 
and  waved  a  good-by  to  the  women  and  children 
who  had  come  out  of  the  tents  to  admire  his  coat 
and  see  him  start  on  his  journey.  His  mother  was 
not  among  them.  She  had  died  a  year  before,  and 
her  grave  was  by  the  roadside  in  lonely  Ephrath, 
far  over  the  hills  to  the  north. 

"  Do  not  fear  for  me,  father,"  he  said ;  and  he 
walked  briskly  away  across  the  brown  and  barren 
fields. 

"  May  the  God  of  my  father  and  of  my  father's 
father  bless  thee  and  keep  thee ! "  said  the  Prince ; 
and  he  stood  and  watched  the  boy  until  he  had 
passed  over  the  ridge  of  a  distant  hill  and  could 
be  seen  no  more. 


III.     THE    DRY    WELL. 

It  was  a  long  and  hard  journey  over  the  hills 
and  across  the  lonely  plains.  On  the  third  day, 
about  noon,  the  lad  reached  the  place  where  he 
expected  to  find  his  brothers.  There  were  the 
springs  of  running  water  and  the  fields  which  he 
well  knew,  and  on  the  hillock  in  their  midst  were 
the  ruins  of  the  little  town  of  Shechem;  but  the 
place  was  deserted  and  bare,  although  there  were 
plenty  of  signs  that  there  had  been  sheep  and  shep- 
herds there. 

He  ran  from  one  field  to  another,  looking  and 
calling;  but  no  one  answered  him,  and  there  was 
not  a  man  to  be  seen  anywhere.  At  last,  footsore 
and  tired  and  hungry,  he  sat  down  on  a  stone  and 
wondered  what  he  should  do  next.  He  could  not 
think  of  going  back  home  and  telling  his  father  that 
his  brothers  and  the  sheep  were  nowhere  to  be  found. 
While  he  was  sitting  there,  a  man  came  out  from 
among  the  ruins  on  the  hilltop  and  called  to  him. 

"  What  do  you  want  here,  my  lad  ?  "  he  said. 

"  I  have  come  to  find  my  brothers  and  the  sheep," 
he  answered;  "for  my  father  is  troubled  about  them, 
and  wants  very  much  to  learn  how  they  are  getting 
on." 

Then  the  man  told  him  that  the  ten  brothers,  who 


called  themselves  the  sons  of  the  Prince,  had  been 
around  Shechern  nearly  all  summer,  but  that  they 
had  gone  away  only  three  days  before,  to  look  for 
fresh  pastures  for  their  sheep. 

"  I  think  they  must  have  gone  over  the  hills  to 
Dothan,"  said  the  man  ;  "  for  I  heard  them  say  to 
one  another,  '  Let  us  go  up  to  Dothan  ;  '  and  I  know 
the  grass  is  better  there  than  here." 

The  lad  had  never  been  to  Dothan,  but  the  man 
told  him  it  was  not  far,  and  showed  him  the  shortest 
and  best  way  to  go  ;  and  when  he  had  eaten  his 
last  crumb  of  bread,  and  filled  his  bottle  with  cool 
water  from  one  of  the  springs,  he  went  on  over  the 
hills  as  fast  as  his  tired  feet  would  carry  him. 

Late  that  afternoon  the  ten  brothers  were  loung- 
ing among  the  grass  on  the  top  of  a  little  knoll, 
and  watching  their  sheep  which  were  feeding  in 
the  fields  below.  Suddenly  one  of  them,  who  was 
called  Troop,  and  who  was  sharper-sighted  than 
the  rest,  sprang  to  his  feet. 

"  Who  is  that  coming  up  the  road  from  She- 
chem  ?"  he  cried. 

The  other  men  jumped  up  quickly,  and  looked 
towards  the  place  which  Troop  pointed  out.  Far 
away  across  the  fields  they  could  see  some  one 
coming.  They  watched  him  as  he  drew  nearer  and 
nearer. 


6o 

"  He  walks  as  if  in  great  haste,"  said  the  eldest 
of  the  ten,  shading  his  eyes  with  his  hands.  "  He 
is  some  poor  fellow  who  has  lost  his  way,  and  is 
coming  to  us  for  help." 

"  Poor  fellow,  indeed  !  "  said  Troop.  "  He  is 
some  rich  merchant's  son  who  has  strayed  from  a 
caravan ;  for  only  see  what  a  fine  cloak  he  wears !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  a  tall,  lank  fellow  whom  they  called 
Judge.  "  That  cloak  is  worth  more  than  a  hundred 
sheep,  and  I  mean  to  have  it  for  my  own."  He 
grasped  his  sheephook  in  his  hands,  and  was  half- 
way down  the  hill  when  his  brothers  called  to  him. 

"  Stay  !  "  they  cried.  "  It  is  nobody  but  our  wise 
brother,  the  Dreamer." 

"  What !  father's  pet  ?  "  said  Judge  ;  and  he  went 
slowly  back. 

By  this  time  the  boy  could  be  plainly  seen 
making  his  way  across  the  fields,  and  waving  his 
hand  to  his  brothers  by  way  of  greeting. 

"  Only  see  that  fine  coat,  how  it  gleams  and 
sparkles  in  the  rays  of  the  sun  !  "  said  Troop. 

"  Father  must  have  paid  a  goodly  sum  for  that 
rich  garment,"  said  another  of  the  brothers. 

"  Yes,"  said  Judge,  "  and  we  who  take  care  of  the 
sheep  have  hardly  a  coat  to  our  backs." 

"  The  young  fellow  will  set  himself  up  for  king 
now,  without  doubt,"  said  the  youngest  of  the  ten. 


6i 

"  Get  yourselves  ready,  boys,  to  fall  on  your  knees 
before  him  as  soon  as  he  comes  to  the  foot  of  the 
hill ! " 

"  For  my  part,"  said  Troop,  "  I  think  we  have 
had  enough  of  his  dreams  and  his  nonsense.  I 
wish  something  would  happen  to  him  before  he 
gets  back  to  Hebron." 

"  We  might  make  something  happen,"  muttered 
Judge.  "  Father  would  never  know :  he  would 
think  that  a  lion  had  caught  the  boy  while  he 
was  crossing  the  hills." 

Then  they  talked  together  in  low  tones.  But 
the  eldest  of  the  ten  said,  "  Have  a  care,  boys !  If 
we  should  hurt  the  lad,  we  could  never  look  our 
father  in  the  face  again.  But  we  might  put  him 
into  the  dry  well  down  there,  and  leave  him." 

This  speech  seemed  to  please  the  others ;  and 
Troop  ran  down  and  lifted  the  flat  stone  that 
covered  the  mouth  of  the  well,  and  looked  in.  But 
the  eldest  brother  turned,  and  walked  away. 

It  was  not  long  until  the  boy  was  near  enough  to 
make  himself  heard. 

"  Hail,  my  brothers  !  "  he  cried.  u  Is  it  well  with 
you?  I  bring  you  our  father's  blessing." 

But  the  nine  rude  fellows  looked  at  him  with 
dark  and  scowling  glances,  and  made  no  answer 
to  his  kind  greeting. 


62 

"  Don't  you  know  me  ? "  he  said.  "  Don't  you 
know  your  younger  brother?  I  have  come  all 
the  way  from  Hebron  to  see  you ;  for  father  was 
troubled  about  you,  and  wanted  to  know  how  you 
are  getting  on." 

"  You  are  no  brother  of  ours,"  said  Judge.  "  We 
never  saw  you  before." 

"  You  are  a  spy  from  our  enemies,  the  robber 
Arabs,"  said  Troop.  "  You  have  come  to  see  h'ow 
strong  we  are ;  and  you  will  go  back  and  tell  your 
friends  whether  they  can  overcome  us  and  drive 
away  our  flocks.  But  you  shall  not  escape  us !  " 
And  with  that  he  threw  a  stone  at  the  boy,  while 
the  others  ran  down  the  hill,  brandishing  their 
sheephooks,  and  crying  out  in  a  savage  and  threat- 
ening manner. 

"  Oh,  my  brothers,  my  brothers !  "  cried  the  lad, 
stopping,  and  lifting  up  his  hands. 

They  seized  him  rudely,  and  tore  his  beautiful 
coat  from  his  back,  and  snatched  the  sandals  from 
his  feet. 

"Away  with  the  robber! "  cried  Judge. 

"  Yes,  away  with  the  spy !  "  cried  the  others  ;  and 
they  pushed  him  roughly  along  towards  the  open 
well.  The  boy  covered  his  face  with  his  hands,  and 
sobbed. 

"Stand  back!      Don't  hurt    the   lad!"  said  one 


63 

of  them,  a  big  round-faced  fellow  whom  his  mother 
called  Judah,  or  Praise.  "  Leave  him  to  me."  And 
he  lifted  the  boy  by  the  arms,  and  let  him  gently 
down  into  the  well.  It  was  not  a  deep  well,  and 
he  did  not  have  far  to  drop;  but  its  stone  sides 
were  smooth  and  steep,  and  not  even  a  squirrel 
could  have  climbed  out  of  it. 

When  the  brothers  saw  what  was  done,  they 
turned  away  as  if  ashamed,  and  without  saying 
a  word  went  after  their  sheep.  But  Judge  staid 
behind  to  put  the  flat  stone  back  into  its  place, 
and,  as  he  peeped  down  into  the  well,  he  whis- 
pered, — 

"  This  is  the  way  that  we  bow  down  before  you, 
Dreamer! " 

IV.     THE    CARAVAN. 

That  evening  nine  of  the  brothers  sat  in  front 
of  their  tent,  eating  their  supper  in  silence.  The 
eldest  was  not  with  them.  He  had  gone  across  the 
fields  to  look  for  a  lost  lamb,  and  to  think  of  some 
plan  to  befriend  his  young  brother.  While  they 
were  eating,  a  long  line  of  camels  and  men  was 
seen  coming  across  the  plain.  It  was  a  caravan 
of  traders  journeying  from  the  East  towards  the 
country  of  the  Nile.  The  sun  had  gone  down,  but 
the  moon  was  at  its  full ;  and  in  that  country  there 


1 

W 

w 

H 


(64) 


was  no  pleasanter  time  to  travel  than  in  the  cool  of 
the  evening. 

The  brothers  sat  still  and  watched  the  caravan  as 
it  came  slowly  towards  them.  The  camels  were 
loaded  with  spices  and  myrrh  and  balm,  and  other 
precious  things  ;  and,  with  the  armed  guard  which 
walked  before  them,  there  were  a  number  of  young 
men  who  were  being  taken  to  the  Nile  country  as 
slaves. 

"  If  we  only  had  something  to  sell  to  those  mer- 
chants," said  Praise,  "  we  might  make  a  good  bar- 
gain.'" 

"We  might  sell  them  a  sheep  or  two  for  their 
breakfast,"  said  Judge. 

"  It  seems  to  me,"  said  Praise,  "  that  we  have 
done  a  very  foolish  thing.  We  have  put  the  boy 
into  the  well,  where  he  will  die,  and  not  one  of  us 
has  made  any  money  by  it.  Come,  now,  let  us  sell 
him  to  these  merchants,  and  save  his  life!  We  shall 
then  be  rid  of  him,  and  at  the  same  time  make  some 
profit  for  ourselves." 

This  speech  pleased  the  brothers  very  much. 
Judge  ran  and  lifted  the  lad  out  of  the  well;  and 
Praise,  who  was  good  at  making  bargains,  sold  him 
to  the  merchants  for  twenty  pieces  of  silver. 

"Two  pieces  for  each  of  you,  and  four  for. me," 
he  said. 

STO.  OF   THE   EAST  —  5 


66 

"  But  how  about  our  eldest  brother,  who  is  look- 
ing for  the  lamb  ? "  asked  one. 

"  There  is  no  need  for  him  to  know  what  we  have 
done,"  said  Praise. 

By  and  by  the  eldest  brother  came  back  from  his 
search,  and  went  at  once  to  the  well.  He  lifted  the 
stone  and  called  to  the  boy,  but  there  was  no  answer. 
Then  he  lighted  a  torch,  and  held  it  so  that  he 
could  see  to  the  bottom  of  the  well.  There  was  no 
boy  there.  He  dropped  the  stone  back  into  its 
place,  and  ran  towards  the  tents,  tearing  his  clothes 
into  pieces  as  he  went. 

"The  child  is  not!"  he  cried.  "  The  child  is 
not,  and  what  shall  become  of  me  ?  " 

"  Some  evil  spirit  has  stolen  him  away,"  said 
Judge,  "  and  what  shall  we  say  to  father? " 

"  Yes,  what  shall  we  say  to  father? "  said  Praise. 

Then  they  took  the  boy's  coat  which  they  had 
torn  from  his  back,  and  dipped  it  into  the  blood  of 
a  kid  which  they  had  killed ;  and  Praise,  who  was 
the  best  talker  among  them,  carried  it  to  their  father 
in  Hebron. 

"  Here  is  something  that  we  found  in  the  hill 
country  on  the  other  side  of  Shechem,"  he  said. 

The  old  man  looked  at  it,  and  knew  at  once  that 
it  w^s  the  costly  coat  which  he  had  given  to  his 
best-loved  child. 


67 

"  It  is  my  son's  coat ! "  he  cried.  "  Some  wild 
beast  has  done  this,  and  has  devoured  the  child  ! " 
And  he  tore  his  cloak  into  shreds  in  sign  of  grief, 
and  clothed  himself  in  sackcloth,  and  sat  down  and 
mourned  for  the  boy  many  days.  Then  his  ,sons 
came  home  with  their  sheep,  and  they  and  all  his 
daughters  tried  to  comfort  him ;  but  he  would  not 
listen  to  them.  "  I  will  weep  for  the  child  until  I 
die,"  he  said. 

But  as  for  the  lad  himself,  the  merchants  took 
him  down  into  the  country  of  the  Nile ;  and  he  was 
so  bright-witted  and  quick,  and  withal  so  handsome 
and  obedient,  that  the  captain  of  the  King's  body- 
guard was  glad  to  buy  him  at  a  very  high  price. 

"  What  is  your  name  ?  "   asked  his  master. 

"  My  mother  called  me  Joseph,"  said  the  boy; 
"  but  my  brothers,  who  sold  me  to  the  merchants, 
nicknamed  me  the  Dreamer." 


v.   THE  PRISON. 

Although  he  was  a  slave  in  a  strange  land,  the 
boy  did  not  lose  heart,  nor  did  he  spend  any  time 
in  grieving 'about  things  which  could  not  be  helped. 
He  made  up  his  mind  to  do  his  best  at  all  times, 
no  matter  what  might  happen  to  him.  And  so,  as 
the  years  passed  by  and  he  grew  up  to  manhood. 


68 

he  proved  himself  to  be  so  honest  and  wise,  that 
his  master  trusted  him  with  everything  that  he 
had,  and  at  last  made  him  the  manager  of  all  his 
lands  and  houses  and  goods. 

"  My  servant  Joseph,"  said  the  captain,  "is  the 
best  man  of  business  in  this  country.  I  do  not 
need  to  think  of  anything;  for  he  manages  all, 
and  there  is  nothing  which  he  undertakes  that 
does  not  prosper." 

But  the  time  came  when  misfortune  again  befell 
the  young  man.  The  captain's  wife,  who  was  a 
thoughtless,  wicked  woman,  accused  him  of  things 
of  which  he  was  not  guilty,  and  caused  him  to  be 
thrown  into  the  King's  prison.  Yet  even  then 
he  did  not  lose  hope.  He  was  so  kind  and  wise 
and  trustworthy,  that  the  jailer  soon  made  him 
his  chief  helper.  All  the  other  prisoners  were 
under  his  care,  and  nothing  was  done  in  the  place 
except  as  he  ordered  it.  Yet  he  was  not  allowed 
to  step  outside  of  the  prison  doors. 

It  so  happened  that  about  this  time  two  men, 
the  King's  butler  and  the  King's  baker,  were  shut 
up  in  the  jail  for  some  fault  or  crime.  Both  of 
them  were  very  much  troubled  because  of  their 
disgrace,  and  one  night  both  of  them  dreamed 
strange  dreams.  In  the  morning  Joseph  noticed 
that  they  seemed  very  sad. 


69 

"  What  is  the  matter,"  he  asked,  "  that  on  this 
bright  day  your  faces  are  so  gloomy  and  down- 
cast ?  " 

"  I  have  dreamed  a  dream,"  said  the  butler, 
"  and  I  do  not  know  what  it  means." 

"  Tell  it  to  me,"  said  the  young  man,  "  and 
perhaps  I  can  explain  its  meaning." 

"  In  my  dream,"  said  the  butler,  "  I  saw  a  vine 
with  three  branches ;  and  as  I  looked  at  it,  it  began 
to  bud  and  blossom,  and  soon  it  was  full  of  ripe 
grapes.  Then  I  gathered  the  grapes,  and  pressed 
the  juice  of  them  into  the  King's  cup,  and  carried 
it  to  the  King." 

"  That  is  an  easy  dream  to  explain,"  said  Joseph. 
"  The  three  branches  are  three  days  ;  and  in  three 
days  the  King  will  set  you  free,  and  you  shall  be 
his  butler  again,  and  carry  his  wine  to  him  as  you 
have  done  before.  But  I  pray  you,  when  it  is  well 
with  you,  do  not  forget  me ;  for  I  am  a  slave, 
and  was  stolen  from  my  father  in  Hebron  when 
I  was  a  boy,  and  I  have  done  nothing  that  they 
should  keep  me  in  this  place." 

Then  the  King's  baker  said,  "  I,  too,  have 
dreamed  a  dream,  and  I  hope  that  it  is  as  good 
a  dream  as  my  friend  the  butler's." 

"  Tell  it  to  me,"  said  Joseph. 

"I  dreamed,"  said  the  baker,  "that   I   had   three 


white  baskets  on  my  head,  and  that  in  the    upper 
basket  were  all  kinds  of  cakes  and  sweetmeats  for 
the   King.     But  as   I  walked  along,  the  birds  flew 
down  from  the  trees  and  ate  up  all  the  sweetmeats, 
and  I  had  none  to  carry  to  the  King." 
Joseph  shook  his  head,  and  said, — 
"  That  -is  also  an  easy  dream  to  explain.     The 
three  baskets   are  three  days ;    and  in    three    days 
you  shall  be  hanged  on  a  tree,  and  the  birds  shall 
fly  down  and  eat  the  flesh  from  your  body." 

Three  days  after  that,  all  things  happened  as 
the  young  man  had  foretold.  It  was  the  King's 
birthday,  and  he  made  a  great  feast  in  his  palace ; 
and  he  gave  orders  that  the  baker  should  be  hanged 
upon  a  tree,  and  that  the  butler  should  be  set  free 
and  given  the  place  of  honor  which  he  had  held 
before.  But  the  butler  was  so  glad  because  of 
his  good  fortune,  that  he  did  not  think  of  what 
Joseph  had  told  him. 

VI.     THE    DREAMS. 

One  morning  about  two  years  after  that,  the 
King,  or  Pharaoh,  as  he  was  called  by  his  own 
people,  awoke  in  great  distress.  He  had  had  two 
dreams  in  the  night  which  troubled  him  very  much, 
and,  do  what  he  would,  he  could  not  put  the  thought 


of  them  out  of  his  mind.  In  those  days,  people 
believed  that  all  dreams  had  a  meaning,  and  that 
they  foreboded  something  that  was  going  to  happen 
in  the  time  to  come.  All  day  long  the  King  pon- 
dered upon  his  two  dreams,  and  he  could  take  no 
pleasure  in  anything.  The  next  night  he  could 
not  sleep ;  but,  whenever  he  closed  his  eyes,  the 
dreams  came  back  to  him. 

On  the  second  morning  he  sent  for  his  wise 
men,  and  said, — 

"  I  have  had  two  strange  dreams,  and  they  trou- 
ble me  greatly.  In  the  first  dream  I  thought  I  was 
standing  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile,  and  looking  at 
the  water  as  it  flowed  among  the  reeds.  Then  I 
saw  seven  fat  cattle  come  up  out  of  the  river ;  and 
they  went  into  the  meadow,  and  fed  upon  the  long 
grass.  But  while  I  was  looking  at  them,  and  think- 
ing how  beautiful  they  were,  seven  other  cattle  came 
creeping  out  of  the  mud  and  mire  of  the  river. 
They  were  the  leanest  cattle  that  were  ever  seen, 
and  they  were  so  weak  that  they  could  hardly  stand. 
But  they  clambered  upon  the  bank;  and,  as  soon 
as  they  saw  the  fat  cattle  in  the  meadow,  they  ran 
after  them  with  wide-open  mouths,  and  caught  them, 
and  swallowed  every  one  of  them.  It  was  a  very 
strange  and  impossible  thing,  and  I  cannot  under- 
stand how  they  could  do  it ;  and,  stranger  still,  they 


72 

were  not  any  fatter  after  this  meal  than  they  had 
been  before.  But  while  I  was  looking  at  them, 
I  awoke." 

The  wise  men  looked  very  grave,  and  shook 
their  heads. 

"  It  was  a  strange  vision,  O  King ! "  they  said ; 
"  but  tell  us  now  of  your  second  dream." 

"  The  second  was  so  nearly  like  the  first,"  said 
the  King,  "  that  I  am  quite  sure  it  means  the  same 
thing.  I  dreamed  that  I  stood  on  the  bank  of  the 
Nile  again;  and  I  was  looking,  not  towards  the  river, 
but  at  the  great  wheat  fields  where  the  grain  was 
almost  ready  for  the  reapers.  Then  I  saw  a  tall 
stalk  of  wheat  that  had  grown  up  by  my  side,  and 
on  it  were  seven  ears  of  golden  grain,  the  largest 
and  fairest  that  ever  grew  in  any*land.  But  while 
I  looked,  seven  other  ears  came  out  on  the  same 
stalk.  They  were  thin,  blasted  ears,  with  scarcely 
a  single  good  grain  in  them  all;  and  when  the  east 
wind  blew  upon  them,  they  fell  upon  the  fine,  large 
ears,  and  ate  them  up.  And  while  I  wondered  how 
such  a  thing  could  be,  I  awoke." 

The  wise  men  looked  very  grave,  and  shook  their 
heads,  and  said  nothing. 

"  I  have  now  told  you  my  dreams,"  said  the 
King,  "and  it  is  for  you  to  tell  me  what  they 
mean." 


73 

"  O  King ! "  they  said,  "  these  dreams  seem  very 
hard  to  explain.  Allow  us,  we  pray  you,  to  think 
upon  them  until  to-morrow,  and  then  we  will  give 
you  an  answer." 

But  on  the  morrow  they  were  as  far  from  under- 
standing the  dreams  as  ever. 

"  We  cannot  explain  them,"  they  said. 

Then  the  King's  butler  said,  "  O  King !  I  have  in 
mind  now  a  thing  that  happened  two  years  ago, 
when  I  was  in  prison.  Your  baker  and  myself 
were  in  prison  at  the  same  time,  as  you  no  doubt 
remember,  and  we  both  dreamed  dreams  on  the 
same  night.  It  so  happened  that  we  told  our  dreams 
to  the  young  man  who  was  our  keeper,  —  the  same 
man  who  once  managed  the  estates  of  the  captain 
of  your  guard.  He  listened  to  us,  and  then  ex- 
plained the  dreams ;  and  everything  came  to  pass 
just  as  he  told  us  it  would, —  I  was  allowed  to  come 
back  to  my  place,  and  the  baker  was  hanged." 

"  Go  at  once,  and  bring  the  young  man  to  me," 
said  the  King. 

The  butler  made  haste  and  brought  Joseph  out 
of  the  prison  ;  and  when  the  young  man  had  taken 
a  bath  and  shaved  himself,  and  put  on  his  best 
clothes,  he  was  led  before  the  King.  The  King 
was  pleased  as  soon  as  he  saw  him,  he  was  so  tall 
and  handsome,  and  his  face  was  so  bright  and  cheer- 


74 

ful.  Among  all  the  men  in  the  land,  there  was  not 
another  one  whose  looks  were  so  noble. 

"  I  have  had  two  strange  dreams,"  he  said,  "  and 
the  wisest  men  in  my  kingdom  cannot  explain  them. 
I  am  told  that  you  understand  such  things,  and  I 
have  sent  for  you  to  tell  me  what  they  mean." 

"  The  God  of  my  father  will  help  me  to  explain 
them,"  said  Joseph;  "but  I  myself  know  nothing 
at  all." 

When  the  King  had  told  him  his  dreams,  he  stood 
still  for  a  moment,  thinking.  Then  he  said,  — 

"  Both  dreams  mean  the  same  thing.  The  God 
of  my  father  has  sent  them  to  you,  that  you  might 
know  the  things  which  are  about  to  happen  in  the 
Land  of  the  Nile.  The  seven  fat  cattle  and  the 
seven  big  ears  of  wheat  mean  seven  years  of 
plenty.  The  seven  lean  cattle  and  the  seven 
blasted  ears  of  wheat  mean  seven  years  of  famine. 
The  meaning  of  the  dreams  is  this:  there  will  be 
seven  years  of  great  plenty  in  all  the  land ;  and  after 
that  there  will  be  seven  years  when  nothing  can 
be  raised,  and  during  these  years  of  famine  all  the 
former  plenty  will  be  eaten  up." 

"  How  soon  will  these  things  happen  ? "  asked 
the  King. 

"  The  thing  was  shown  to  you  in  two  dreams  on 
the  same  night,  O  King ! "  said  the  young  man  ;  "  and 


that  is  a  sign  that  the  time  is  here  now,  and  that 
the  years  of  plenty  are  about  to  begin.  Now,  if 
some  wise  man  could  be  found  to  take  charge  of  the 
matter,  it  would  not  be  hard  to  provide  against 
the  years  of  famine  that  will  follow.  Great  gran- 
aries might  be  built  in  all  the  cities,  and  the  sur- 
plus grain  might  be  stored  away  for  use  in  time  of 
need." 

Then  the  King  turned  to  the  officers  who  stood 
around  him,  and  said,  "  The  young  man  speaks  well, 
and  there  may  be  much  truth  in  what  he  says.  At 
any  rate,  it  will  do  no  harm  to  store  away  the  grain 
during  these  years  of  plenty,  and  it  will  certainly 
do  great  good  if  the  years  of  dearth  should  ever 
come.  Tell  me,  now,  which  man  in  all  my  kingdom 
is  the  most  trustworthy,  and  the  best  fitted  to  man- 
age this  business." 

"  If  it  please  the  King,"  said  one  of  the  officers, 
"  the  young  man  who  once  had  charge  of  the  estates 
of  the  captain  of  your  guard  is  the  most  honest  and 
the  best  manager  in  all  our  land.  Never  did  any- 
thing prosper  as  did  the  captain's  affairs  while  that 
young  man  looked  after  them." 

"  Let  the  young  man  be  brought  before  me  at 
once,"  said  the  King. 

"  He  is  already  here,  O  King ! "  said  the  officer. 
"  It  is  he  that  has  just  now  explained  your  dreams." 


76 

Then  the  King  turned  to  Joseph,  and  said, 
"  Truly,  I  believe  that  there  is  no  man  in  the  world 
so  discreet  and  wise  as  you  are,  for  I  often  heard 
of  you  while  you  were  the  head  servant  of  the  cap- 
tain of  my  guard.  Your  name  is  already  known  in 
all  parts  of  my  kingdom.  You  shall  manage  this 
business,  and  I  will  set  you  over  all  the  land  to  rule 
my  people." 

And  he  took  a  ring  from  his  hand  and  put  it 
upon  Joseph's  finger,  and  hung  a  gold  chain  about 
the  young  man's  neck,  and  gave  him  rich  robes  of 
finest  linen  to  put  on. 

"  Why  do  men  call  you  Joseph  ?  "  he  asked ;  "for 
that  is  a  word  which  means  '  He  shall  add.' " 

"  When  I  was  born,"  answered  the  young  man, 
"  my  dear  mother  said  that  I  was  a  promise  that  the 
God  of  my  father  would  add  more  and  more  to  her 
happiness.  But  she  lies  now  in  her  lonely  grave  by 
the  roadside  in  far-away  Ephrath,  and  my  father's 
three  wives  keep  his  tents." 

"  Enough,  enough  ! "  cried  the  King.  "  And  now, 
if  you  have  told  me  truly,  and  will  manage  this  busi- 
ness aright,  you  shall  be  given  a  new  name.  You 
shall  be  called  Zaphnath-paaneah,  or  the  Master  of 
the  Land."  And  then,  turning  to  the  officers  around 
him,  he  said,  "  I  am  Pharaoh,  I  am  the  King ;  but 
this  man  is  Zaphnath-paaneah,  and  he  shall  stand 


77 

next  to  me  in  all  things.  His  word  shall  be  law, 
and,  without  his  leave,  no  man  shall  do  anything  at 
all  He  is  the  Master  of  the  Land  of  the  Nile." 


VII.     THE    TEN    STRANGERS. 

In  all  the  world  there  had  never  been  such  crops 
as  those  that  were  raised  during  the  next  seven 
years.  There  was  so  much  wheat  that  the  number 
of  bushels  could  not  be  counted ;  and  all  other 
kinds  of  food  were  so  plentiful  that  no  one  had 
ever  any  need  to  be  hungry.  And  during  that 
time  of  plenty  no  one  was  so  busy  as  the  Master 
of  the  Land  of  the  Nile.  He  was  first  in  this  city, 
then  in  that,  giving  orders  about  the  great  grana- 
ries that  were  being  built,  and  seeing  that  they 
were  filled  with  grain.  His  word  was  law  every. 
\vhere  ;  and  no  man  dared  to  waste  anything,  but 
all  the  food  that  was  not  needed  was  laid  up  in 
storehouses  against  the  time  of  need. 

But  when  the  seven  years  of  plenty  had  passed, 
the  seven  years  of  dearth  began  to  come,  and  every- 
thing was  changed.  The  ground  was  so  dry,  and 
the  air  was  so  hot,  that  nothing  would  grow.  In 
all  the  valley  of  the  Nile  there  was  not  a  stalk  of 
wheat  nor  a  blade  of  green  grass.  In  the  lands 
farther  away,  things  were  in  even  a  worse  plight : 


78 

for  there  the  people  had  not  laid  up  anything  when 
there  was  plenty ;  and  so  the  flocks  and  herds  died 
for  want  of  pasture,  and  thousands  of  men  and 
women  and  children  perished  because  there  was 
no  food.  But  in  the  country  of  the  Nile  the  store- 
houses were  full,  and  the  rich  men  of  other  lands 
sent  there  to  buy  grain. 

One  day,  when  the  Master  of  the  Land  was  selling 
wheat  at  one  of  the  King's  granaries,  ten  rough-look- 
ing strangers  were  brought  before  him.  They  were 
sunburned  and  brown  with  traveling  over  the  sandy 
deserts,  and  they  said  that  they  had  come  a  long 
distance  from  the  east.  As  soon  as  they  saw  the 
Master  of*  the  Land,  dressed  in  his  robes  of  fine 
linen,  and  wearing  the  King's  gold  chain  about 
his  neck,  they  bowed  themselves,  and  fell  on  their 
faces  before  him. 

"  Who  are  you  ?  "  he  said.  "  Where  do  you  come 
from  ?  What  do  you  want  ?  " 

He  spoke  so  harshly,  that  they  trembled  with 
fear,  and  did  not  dare  to  look  up.  Then  one  oi 
them  answered. 

"  O  mighty  Prince ! "  he  said,  "  we  are  from 
Hebron,  a  place  many  days'  journey  from  here; 
and  we  have  come  to  buy  food  for  our  families, 
for  in  our  own  land  there  is  nothing  to  eat." 

"  Do  not  try  to  deceive  me,"  said  the   Master, 


79 

"  I  know  who  you  are.  You  are  spies ;  and  you 
have  come  to  find  out  all  that  you  can  about  us, 
and  then  go  and  tell  it  to  our  enemies." 

"  Oh,  do  not  think  such  a  thing  of  us ! "  they 
cried ;  and  they  were  filled  with  greater  dread  than 
before,  and  did  not  know  what  to  do.  "  We  are 
not  spies,  but  honest  men,  and  true,  and  we  are 
all  brothers  of  one  family." 

"  Have  you  a  father  or  a  brother  at  home  ? " 
asked  the  Master. 

"  Truly,  there  were  twelve  of  us,"  was  the  answer ; 
"  and  our  father,  who  is  an  old  man,  is  at  home  with 
the  youngest  brother,  who  is  still  a  little  child. 
The  other  brother  is  dead;  and  this  child  is  left 
alone  with  our  father,  who  loves  him  most  dearly." 

Then  the  Master  seemed  to  be  more  angry  than 
before.  "  You  shall  prove  that  you  are  not  spies. 
One  of  you  shall  go  and  fetch  this  child  of  whom 
you  tell  me,  and  the  other  nine  shall  lie  in  jail 
until  he  comes." 

"fMy  lord!"  cried  the  spokesman  of  the  ten 
strangers,  "  the  lad  cannot  leave  his  father ;  for,  if 
we  should  fetch  him  away,  his  father  would  die." 

"  Did  I  not  say  that  you  were  spies  ?  "  said  the 
Master;  and  then,  without  waiting  for  another 
word,  he  bade  his  officers  lead  the  ten  men  away 
to  prison. 


8o 

• 

Three  days  after  that,  he  had  them  brought  be- 
fore him  again. 

"  I  have  not  the  heart  to  treat  you  cruelly,"  he 
said.  "  If  you  are  honest  men,  let  one  of  you  be 
bound  in  prison ;  and  do  the  rest  of  you  go  home 
with  food  for  the  hungry  ones  who  are  there.  Then 
come  again,  and  bring  your  little  brother,  and  I  will 
believe  you,  and  you  shall  not  die." 

And  he  walked  away,  and  hid  his  face,  and  wept. 

Then  the  officers  took  one  of  the  brothers  and 
bound  him,  and  led  him  away  to  the  prison.  The 
others  were  set  free.  They  bought  as  much  grain 
as  their  donkeys  could  carry,  and  then  started  sadly 
and  silently  on  their  long  journey  home. 

VIII.     THE    LITTLE    BROTHER. 

When  the  nine  brothers  reached  Hebron,  the 
women  and  the  children  ran  to  meet  them,  and 
the  old  Prince  stood  in  the  door  of  his  tent  to 
welcome  them  home.  But  when  they  told  hovd  the 
other  brother  had  been  left  behind,  sadness  took 
the  place  of  joy. 

"  Why  did  you  leave  him  ?  "  asked  the  Prince. 

"  The  man  who  is  the  Master  of  the  Land  kept 
him,"  said  Praise.  "  He  spoke  roughly  to  us,  and 
threw  us  into  prison  as  spies.  Then  he  set  nine  of 


8i 

us  free,  but  the  tenth  he  kept  bound.  '  Bring  your 
youngest  brother  to  me,'  he  said ;  c  and  then  I  will 
know  that  you  are  not  spies,  and  you  may  all  go  in 
peace.' ' 

Then  the  Prince  sat  down  in  his  tent  and  wept. 
"  All  the  world  is  against  me  !  "  he  cried.  "  Two  of 
my  sons  are  lost,  and  now  you  would  take  Benoni 
away.  But  he  shall  not  go  with  you;  for  his  brother 
is  dead,  and  he  is  left  alone.  If  mischief  should 
befall  him,  then  you  will  bring  me  down  in  sorrow 
to  the  grave." 

The  men  unloaded  their  donkeys,  and  began  to 
empty  the  grain  which  they  had  brought.  But, 
wonder  of  wonders !  in  each  man's  sack  was  the 
money  which  he  had  paid  for  the  wheat.  And 
they  were  greatly  troubled,  and  did  not  know  what 
to  do ;  for  would  not  the  man  who  was  the  Master 
of  the  Nile  country  accuse  them  of  stealing  it  ? 

Days  and  weeks  went  by,  and  the  famine  grew 
worse  and  worse.  The  grain  which  the  brothers 
had  brought  was  almost  gone. 

"  Boys,"  said  their  father,  "  you  will  have  to  go 
again  and  buy  a  little  more  grain." 

"  It  is  no  use,  unless  you  will  let  Benoni  go  with 
us,"  they  answered;  "for  the  man  said  that  he 
would  not  listen  to  us  again  unless  we  brought 
him." 

STO.  OF  THE   EAST  —  6 


82 

But  the  old  man  wept,  and  declared  that  he  would 
not  part  with  the  boy. 

Then  Praise  asked  him,  "Which  is  better,  —  that 
all  your  children  and  grandchildren  should  perish 
here  with  hunger,  or  that  we  take  the  risk  with  the 
young  lad?  I  will  answer  with  my  life  that  he  shall 
come  back  safe." 

At  last  the  Prince  agreed  to  let  the  child  go. 

"  Carry  a  little  present  down  to  the  man,"  he 
said.  "  We  have  not  much  that  will  please  him; 
but  take  him  a  little  balm  and  a  little  honey,  and 
some  spices  and  nuts,  and  carry  back  the  money 
that  you  found  in  your  sacks.  There  must  have 
been  some  mistake  about  it.  Then,  when  he  sees 
your  little  brother,  it  may  be  that  the  great  man 
will  deal  kindly  with  you." 

The  brothers  did  as  he  told  them,  and,  taking 
their  presents  and  the  young  lad  with  them,  they 
went  down  again  into  the  Land  of,  the  Nile. 

When  the  Master  of  the  Land  heard  that  they  had 
come,  he  ordered  that  they  should  be  brought  to  his 
own  palace.  This  frightened  them  very  much,  for 
they  thought  that  now  he  would  throw  them  into 
prison  or  put  them  to  death  for  carrying  the  money 
home  in  their  sacks.  When  they  were  led  into  the 
room  where  he  sat,  they  bowed  very  low  before  him, 
and  gave  him  the  presents  which  their  father  had 


83 

sent;  but  how  poor  and  little  did  these  presents 
seem  in  the  midst  of  so  much  grandeur ! 

"  Is  your  father  well,  the  old  man  of  whom  you 
told  me?"  asked  the  great  man.  "  Is  he  still  alive?" 

"  Our  father  is  still  alive,  and  he  is  well,"  they 
answered ;  and  they  again  bowed  themselves  to  the 
ground. 

Then  the  great  man  saw  the  young  lad,  his  own 
brother,  standing  trembling  before  him. 

"  Is  this  your  younger  brother,  about  whom  you 
told  me  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  This  is  he,"  they  answered. 

"  May  the  God  of  your  father  be  ever  kind  to 
you,  my  lad ! "  said  he ;  and  he  turned  away,  and 
went  into  his  own  room  and  wept. 


IX.     THE    DISCOVERY. 


That  very  afternoon  the  sons  of  the  Prince  made 
ready  to  go  back  to  Hebron.  They  were  glad- 
hearted  now;  for  the  man  who  was  the  Master  of 
the  Land  had  been  kind  to  them,  and  had  believed 
them,  and  had  set  free  their  brother  who  had  been 
in  prison.  They  hastened  to  the  storehouse,  and 
bought  as  much  grain  as  their  donkeys  could 
carry ;  and,  as  soon  as  it  was  light  the  next  morn- 
ing, they  started. 


84 

But  they  were  hardly  outside  of  the  city,  when 
they  heard  loud  cries  behind  them;  and,  looking 
back,  they  saw  men  on  horseback  riding  rapidly 
towards  them.  They  stopped,  and  waited  to  see 
what  was  wanted.  The  men  rode  up.  One  of  them 
was  the  head  servant  of  the  Master  of  the  Land. 

"  What  mean  you  by  robbing  my  master  of  his 
treasures  ?  "  he  cried. 

"  Oh,  say  not  so,  my  lord  !  "  said  Praise,  trembling. 
"  Did  we  not  bring  the  money  back  that  we  found 
in  our  sacks  ?  How  could  we  steal  silver  or  gold 
from  your  master  ?  If  any  one  of  us  has  taken  that 
which  is  not  his  own,  let  him  die,  and  the  rest  of 
us  will  be  your  master's  slaves." 

"  What  is  it  that  we  have  stolen  ?  "  cried  Judge. 
"Search  us,  and  see  if  we  have  anything  of  your 
master's." 

"  That  I  will  do,"  said  the  head  servant.  "  And 
the  one  with  whom  it  is  found  shall  be  my  master's 
slave,  but  the  rest  of  you  shall  go  free." 

So  they  took  the  sacks  from  off  the  backs  of  the 
donkeys,  and  every  man  opened  his  sack.  Then 
the  head  servant  searched  in  each  sack,  beginning 
with  that  of  the  eldest ;  and  in  the  young  lad's  sack 
he  found  a  silver  cup  of  great  price,  which  belonged 
to  the  Master  of  the  Land.  When  the  brothers 
saw  this,  they  tore  their  cloaks  in  sign  of  grief  and 


85 

dismay;  and  then  every  man  loaded  his  donkey 
again,  and,  without  saying  a  word,  followed  the 
head  servant  back  into  the  city.  They  did  not 
know  that  the  Master  himself  had  caused  the  cup 
to  be  hidden  there. 

The  great  man  met  them  at  his  own  door,  and 
spoke  to  them  very  harshly.  "  What  is  this  you 
have  done  ? "  he  said.  "  Did  you  not  know  that 
nothing  can  be  hidden  from  me  ?" 

"  We  cannot  excuse  ourselves,"  said  Praise.  "  The 
case  is  a  clear  one,  and  there  is  nothing  to  say. 
We  are  your  slaves,  and  so  also  is  the  lad  who  took 
the  cup." 

"  Not  so,"  answered  the  Master.  "  The  rest  of 
you  shall  go  free ;  but  the  lad  who  had  the  cup, 
he  shall  be  my  slave." 

Then  Praise  pleaded  with  the  great  man  to  spare 
the  boy. 

"  The  lad  is  the  joy  and  hope  of  our  father,"  he 
said ;  "  and  the  old  man's  life  is  bound  up  in  the 
life  of  the  child.  If  we  should  go  home,  and  our 
father  see  that  the  lad  is  not  with  us,  he  will  die, 
and  we  shall  bring  down  his  gray  hairs  in  sorrow  to 
the  grave.  Now,  I  pray  you,  let  me  be  your  slave, 
and  let  the  lad  go  up  to  Hebron  with  his  brothers ! " 

Then  the  great  man  could  keep  his  secret  no 
longer.  He  ordered  his  officers  to  leave  him  alone 


86 

with  the  men  from  Hebron,  and  then  he  made 
himself  known. 

"  I  am  your  brother,"  he  said.  "  I  am  Joseph, 
whom  you  sold  to  the  Arab  merchants  when  I  was 
a  lad.  Do  not  think  I  am  angry  with  you,  for  it  has 
all  happened  for  the  best.  The  God  of  our  father,  he 
brought  it  about  in  order  to  save  life ;  for  otherwise 
we  should  all  have  perished  in  this  great  famine." 

Then  he  fell  upon  his  little  brother's  neck  and 
kissed  him ;  and  they  both  wept  together  for  a  long 
time.  After  that,  he  kissed  his  older  brothers,  and 
wept  with  them,  and  talked  with  them  about  the 
wonderful  things  which  had  happened  to  him. 

"  And  now,"  said  he,  "  hasten  back  to  the  old  home 
in  Hebron,  and  say  to  our  father  that  his  son  Joseph 
is  still  alive,  and  is  the  master  of  all  the  Land  of  the 
Nile.  Bid  him  come  down  to  me  at  once,  and  say 
that  he  shall  live  near  me  with  his  children,  and  his 
children's  children,  and  his  flocks  and  his  herds ; 
and  I  will  provide  for  you  all." 

Then  he  gave  fine  coats  to  each  of  the  men ;  but 
to  his  young  brother  he  gave  five  suits  of  the  rich- 
est clothing,  and  three  hundred  pieces  of  silver ; 
and  to  his  father  he  sent  twenty  donkeys  laden 
with  grain  and  bread  and  meat,  and  the  good 
things  of  the  land.  He  sent  also  a  great  number 
of  wagons  to  bring  him  and  the  women  and  the 


87 

children  down  into  the  Land  of  the  Nile.  And 
his  brothers,  with  glad  hearts,  hastened  to  do  all 
things  as  he  directed. 

When  at  last  the  aged  Prince,  with  all  his  family, 
came  down  into  the  country  of  the  Nile,  the  King 
allowed  the  Master  to  give  his  father  and  his  broth- 
ers homes  in  the  best  part  of  the  land,  where  they 
could  dwell  in  peace,  and  care  for  their  flocks  and 
herds.  The  King  himself  went  out  to  meet  the 
Prince,  and  the  Prince  blessed  him. 

"  How  old  are  you  ?  "  asked  the  King. 

"  The  days  of  the  years  of  my  pilgrimage," 
answered  the  old  man,  "  are  a  hundred  and  thirty 
years.  Few  and  evil  have  the  days  of  the  years 
of  my  life  been." 

And  the  Prince  and  his  children,  and  his  chil- 
dren's children,  made  themselves  homes  in  that  part 
of  the  Land  of  the  Nile  which  was  called  Goshen. 


THE   GREAT    LAWGIVER. 

I.     THE    KING'S    DAUGHTER. 

THERE  once  lived  in  the  Land  of  the  Nile  a 
nation  of  bondmen. 

These  people  had  not  always  been  slaves.  They 
said  that  the  great  ancestor  from  whom  they  were 
all  descended,  had  been  a  man  of  renown  in  his 
day,  and  had  won  for  himself  the  title  of  Israel,  or 
the  Prince;  and  so  they  called  themselves  Israelites, 
or  the  Children  of  the  Prince.  They  liked  to  tell 
of  the  time  when  the  Prince  had  come  down  into  the 
country  from  a  foreign  land,  and  with  his  children, 
and  his  children's  children,  had  settled  in  the  fertile 
valley  of  Goshen.  And  they  proudly  remembered 
the  fact  that  one  of  the  Prince's  sons  had  been  the 
Master  of  the  Land  of  the  Nile,  and  second  only  to 
the  King;  and  they  delighted  to  tell  how  this  great 
man  had  been  wont  to  ride  in  his  chariot  from  city 
to  city,  and  how  all  the  people  bowed  the  knee 
before  him,  and  made  his  word  their  law. 

'88 


89 

But  now  four  hundred  years  'had  passed  since 
that  glorious  time,  and  many  sad  changes  had  come 
to  the  Children  of  the  Prince.  Their  lands  had 
been  taken  from  them,  they  had  been  robbed  of 
their  flocks  and  herds,  and  cruel  laws  had  been 
made  in  order  to  afflict  them ;  and  yet  they  had 
seemed  to  prosper,  and  their  numbers  had  grown 
until  there  were  tens  of  thousands  of  them  in 
Goshen.  At  last  there  came  to  the  throne  a 
Pharaoh,  or  King,  who  had  never  heard  of  their 
great  ancestor,  but  whose  heart  was  filled  with 
hatred  towards  them. 

"  What  shall  we  do  with  the  folk  who  call  them- 
selves the  Children  of  the  Prince  ? "  he  said.  "  If 
we  let  them  alone,  they  will  soon  outnumber  us,  and 
will  make  themselves  our  masters.  They  are  good 
workmen  and  cunning  traders,  and  it  would  be  a 
loss  to  the  country  to  destroy  them;  and  yet  some- 
thing must  be  done  to  hold  them  in  check." 

And  so  laws  were  passed  which  made  the  Chil- 
dren of  the  Prince  a  nation  of  slaves ;  and  Pharaoh 
sent  their  young  men  into  the  cities  and  towns  to 
work  under  taskmasters,  and  build  walls  and  forts 
and  palaces  of  brick  and  stone.  It  was  also  ordered 
that  every  boy  baby  that  was  born  to  any  of  these 
people  should  be  put  to  death.  In  this  way  the 
cruel  King  hoped  to  put  an  end  to  their  increase, 


9o 

and  at  the  same  time  strengthen  his  kingdom  and 
enrich  himself. 

One  day,  not  long  after  this,  it  happened  that  the 
King's  daughter  went  out  with  her  maidens  to  bathe 
in  the  river.  As  she  was  walking  along  the  bank, 
she  saw  something  floating  among  the  reeds  in  the 
shallow  water  of  the  stream,  and  she  sent  one  of  her 
maidens  to  get  it.  When  it  was  brought  to  her,  it 
proved  to  be  a  light  basket  made  of  rushes  woven 
together,  and  daubed  with  pitch  so  as  to  make  it 
water-tight  and  strong.  The  King's  daughter  opened 
the  lid  of  the  basket,  and  looked  in ;  and  there  she 
saw  a  pretty  babe,  about  three  months  old,  lying  on 
a  little  cushion  of  leaves.  When  the  child  saw  the 
lady,  he  held  out  his  hands  towards  her  and  crfed ; 
and  her  kind  heart  was  filled  with  pity,  and  she 
bent  over  and  kissed  him. 

"  He  must  belong  to  one  of  the  slaves  who  call 
themselves  Children  of  the  Prince,"  she  said.  "  How 
sad  that  so  pretty  a  babe  should  perish!  " 

While  the  King's  daughter  and  her  maidens 
were  fondling  the  child,  and  trying  to  make  him 
cease  his  weeping,  a  little  girl  came  timidly  for- 
ward, and  listened  to  what  they  were  saying. 

"  How  I  should  like  to  keep  him  for  my  own !  " 
said  the  lady,  as  she  took  him  from  the  basket 
and  held  him  lovingly  in  her  arms. 


I  I 


(91) 


92 

Then  the  little  girl  took  courage,  and  spoke. 

"  Shall  I  go  and  find  a  woman  to  nurse  the  child 
for  you  ?  "  she  asked. 

"Yes,  go,"  said  the  lady. 

Now,  the  little  girl  was  none  other  than  the 
sister  of  the  babe.  Ever  since  the  basket  had 
been  set  afloat  among  the  reeds,  she  had  been 
standing  by  the  river,  watching,  and  hoping  that 
this  very  thing  would  happen ;  for,  if  the  lady 
would  take  pity  on  the  child,  his  life  might  be 
saved.  She  ran  as  fast  as  she  could,  and  told  her 
mother  all  that  the  King's  daughter  had  said. 
Then  her  mother  hastened  with  glad  heart  to  the 
riverside,  where  the  King's  daughter  and  her  maid- 
ens were  still  fondling  the  child;  for  now  he  had 
ceased  his  crying,  and  was  playing  with  the  lady's 
necklace,  and  cooing  softly  to  his  new-found  friends. 

"  Here  is  a  woman  who  will  nurse  the  child 
for  you,"  said  the  little  girl. 

"  Come,  then,"  said  the  lady  to  the  child's 
mother,  "come  into  my  home  and  take  care  of 
this  babe  for  me,  and  I  will  pay  you  well." 

And  so  the  babe  was  taken  into  the  King's 
palace,  and  brought  up  by  his  own  mother.  He 
was  called  the  son  of  the  King's  daughter;  and 
she  gave  him  the  name  of  Moses,  which  meant 
that  he  had  been  drawn  out  of  the  water. 


93 


II.     THE    SHEPHERD. 

The  child  grew  fast,  and  soon  became  a  hand- 
some lad,  quick  and  strong,  and  full  of  promise. 
He  was  treated  in  every  way  as  though  he  were 
really  the  grandson  of  the  King.  The  wisest  men 
in  the  land  were  sought  out  to  be  his  teachers, 
and  he  became  learned  in  all  the  lore  of  those 
ancient  times :  for  they  taught  him  whatever 
was  known  about  the  world  and  its  people,  and 
about  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  land ;  they 
taught  him  how  to  be  a  brave  soldier,  and  how 
to  be  a  leader  of  men;  they  instructed  him  in 
music  and  in  magic,  and  in  the  science  of  the 
stars ;  and  they  told  him  about  the  idols  whom 
the  people  ignorantly  worshiped,  and  about  the 
great  God,  the  ruler  of  all  things.  No  young 
man  ever  had  brighter  prospects  than  he;  for  it 
was  the  wish,  both  of  the  King  and  of  the  King's 
daughter,  that  he  should  in  the  end  become  a 
great  ruler  in  the  land,  and  that  he  should  stand 
next  in  power  to  the  King  himself.  But  his  own 
mother,  the  humble  nurse  who  cared  for  him  in 
his  childhood,  had  taught  him  something  else.  It 
was  she  who  told  him  of  his  kinsmen,  and  how 
they  had  lived  for  now  four  hundred  years  in  the 
land,  and  how  they  had  been  robbed  and  oppressed 


94 

and  enslaved,  and  how  in  every  city  and  town 
his  brethren  were  being  lashed  and  driven  by 
cruel  taskmasters.  And  she  told  him  about  the 
great  ancestor  of  his  people,  the  Prince,  —  how 
he  had  come  as  a  stranger  and  settled  in  the 
valley  of  Goshen ;  and  how  before  he  died  he  had 
told  his  sons  that  they  should  not  always  stay  in 
the  Nile  country,  but  that  somewhere  there  was  a 
land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey  which  the  great 
God  whom  they  reverenced  had  promised  to  them 
and  their  descendants  as  a  heritage  and  a  home 
so  long  as  the  world  should  last.  These  words 
sank  deep  into  the  heart  of  the  lad,  deeper  by  far 
than  all  the  lore  he  had  learned  from  his  teach- 
ers; and  the  older  he  grew,  the  more  he  yearned 
towards  his  kinsfolk,  and  the  more  he  longed  to 
help  them  escape  from  their  grievous  burdens. 

One  day,  after  he  had  become  a  grown-up  man, 
Moses  was  walking  in  the  fields  where  some  of  his 
people  were  toiling;  and  in  a  lonely  spot  he  saw  one 
of  the  King's  taskmasters  beating  a  man.  He  looked 
this  way  and  that,  and,  when  he  saw  that  no  one 
was  near,  he  killed  the  taskmaster,  and  hid  his  body 
in  the  sand.  The  next  day  he  was  walking  near 
the  same  place,  and  there  he  saw  two  of  his  own 
people  fighting. 

"  For   shame !  "  he  cried.     "  Why  do  you   do  so 


95 

wrong  a  thing  as  to  quarrel  with  each  other  ? " 
And  he  ran  and  tried  to  part  them. 

"Who  made  you  a  judge  over  us?"  said  one  of 
the  men.  "  Do  you  want  to  kill  me  as  you  killed 
the  taskmaster  yesterday  ?  " 

When  the  young  man  heard  this,  he  was  fright- 
ened. 

"  Surely  the  thing  is  known,"  he  said  to  himself ; 
"  but  how  did  any  one  find  it  out  ? " 

Then,  without  saying  another  word,  he  turned, 
and  fled  from  the  place.  He  knew  that  the  laws  of 
the  land  were  very  strict,  and  that,  if  it  should  be 
proven  that  he  had  killed  the  taskmaster,  he  would 
be  punished,  perhaps  with  death.  He  dared  not 
stop  even  to  say  good-by  to  his  friends.  There 
was  no  safety  for  him  anywhere  in  the  Land  of  the 
Nile;  and  so  he  fled  into  the  far  wilderness  country 
where  there  were  no  cities,  nor  towns,  nor  settled 
homes,  but  only  wandering  bands  of  Arabs  and  a 
few  keepers  of  sheep. 

One  afternoon  he  came  to  a  well  in  the  midst  of 
a  grove  of  palm  trees,  and  sat  down  in  the  shade  to 
rest.  On  the  grassy  plain  not  far  away  there  were 
many  flocks  of  sheep  feeding,  and  the  tops  of  white 
tents  could  be  seen  among  the  hills  beyond.  The 
young  man  was  tired  with  his  long  wanderings,  and 
he  was  in  no  haste  to  leave  a  spot  that  seemed  so 


96 

quiet  and  peaceful  and  safe.  He  had  not  been  there 
long,  however,  when  he  heard  the  tinkle  of  bells 
and  the  sound  of  pleasant  voices  ;  and,  peering  out 
from  his  place,  he  saw  seven  handsome  young  girls 
driving  a  flock  of  sheep  towards  the  well. 

"  Make  haste,  sisters,"  said  one  of  them.  "  Draw 
up  the  water  quickly,  and  fill  the  troughs,  that  so 
the  sheep  may  drink  before  the  men  see  us." 

Three  of  the  maidens  hurried  with  their  pails  to 
draw  the  water,  while  the  others  urged  the  timid 
flock  to  the  troughs.  But  scarcely  had  the  panting 
sheep  begun  to  drink,  when  loud  shouts  were  heard 
near  by,  and  a  half  dozen  rude  shepherds  came  run- 
ning to  drive  them  away. 

"  Have  we  not  told  you  to  wait  until  we  have 
given  our  sheep  drink?"  they  cried.  "There  is 
hardly  water  enough  for  all." 

Then  the  young  man  Moses  stood  up  and  showed 
himself,  and  drove  the  rude  shepherds  from  the 
well,  and  helped  the  maidens  water  their  flock. 

That  evening  the  girls  drove  their  sheep  home 
much  earlier  than  was  their  wont. 

"  Why  is  it  that  you  have  come  home  so  soon 
to-day  ?  "  asked  their  father. 

"  A  young  stranger  was  at  the  well,"  they  an- 
swered, "  and  he  kept  the  shepherds  away  while  our 
sheep  drank  from  the  troughs." 


97 

"  Yes/'  said  Zipporah,  the  youngest  and  handsom- 
est of  the  seven,  "  and  he  also  drew  the  water  for  us, 
and  watered  the  flock." 

"  And  where  is  the  stranger  ?  "  said  their  father. 
"  Why  is  it  that  you  did  not  bring  him  home  with 
you  ?  Make  haste  and  call  him,  that  he  may  eat 
bread  with  us,  and  lodge  for  the  night  in  our  tent." 

The  young  man  was  glad  to  become  the  guest  of 
the  good  Arab,  and  he  was  in  no  haste  to  go  farther. 
Every  day  he  helped  the  maidens  drive  their  sheep 
to  the  pasture,  and  every  evening  he  sat  in  the  tent 
door,  and  listened  to  the  wise  talk  of  the  old  man 
their  father.  Thus  the  time  passed  pleasantly  away, 
and  at  last  he  made  up  his  mind  to  stay  in  that  quiet, 
peaceful  place,  and  be  a  shepherd  all  the  rest  of  his 
life.  And  so  he  married  the  pretty  Zipporah,  and 
kept  the  flock  of  her  father,  and  lived  in  her  father's 
tents,  and  cared  no  more  for  the  riches  and  power 
which  might  have  been  his  in  the  Land  of  the 
Nile. 

III.     THE    BURNING    BUSH. 

Forty  years  passed  by. 

The  Children  of  the  Prince  were  still  toiling  under 
their  cruel  taskmasters  in  the  Land  of  the  Nile  ; 
and  every  day  their  burdens  were  made  heavier,  and 
their  bondage  became  more  bitter.  In  their  great 

STO.   OF  THE   EAST — 7 


98 

distress  they  cried  out,  and  prayed  God  that  he 
would  send  them  help. 

In  the  mean  while  Moses  kept  his  father-in-law's 
sheep  in  the  wild  country  of  the  Arabs.  But  he 
had  not  forgotten  his  kinsfolk  in  the  Land  of  the 
Nile,  and  the  memory  of  their  troubles  was  always 
in  his  mind.  One  day,  as  he  was  tending  his  flock 
on  the  side  of  a  mountain,  he  saw  a  strange  vision. 
A  bush  that  stood  close  by  seemed  to  catch  fire, 
and  burn  with  a  blaze  that  was  brighter  than  the 
sun,  and  yet  it  was  not  harmed  in  the  least.  While 
he  stood  looking  at  it,  and  wondering,  he  saw  an 
angel  in  the  flame,  and  heard  a  voice  calling  him 
by  name. 

"  Here  am  I,"  he  answered. 

"  Come  not  any  nearer,  for  this  is  holy  ground," 
said  the  voice. 

Then  Moses  hid  his  face  for  fear,  and  stood  still 
and  listened.  And  the  voice  told  him  how  his  kins- 
folk were  oppressed  in  the  Land  of  the  Nile,  and 
how  they  had  cried  to  God  for  help. 

"  Go  down,  therefore,"  it  said,  "  and  free  my 
people  from  their  bondage,  and  lead  them  forth 
into  the  Land  of  Promise." 

But  Moses  said,  "  How  can  I  do  this  thing  ? 
How  can  I  go  before  the  King,  and  persuade  him  to 
let  the  Children  of  the  Prince  go  free  ?  I  am  slow 


99 

of  speech,  and  cannot  find  words  to  say  that  which 
I  ought  to  say.  Send  some  one  else,  I  pray." 

The  angel  said,  "  Go,  and  I  will  be  with  you,  and 
teach  you  what  to  say.  And  I  will  send  your 
brother  Aaron  to  meet  you,  and  go  with  you ;  for  I 
know  that  he  can  speak  well." 

So  Moses  left  his  flock  with  his  father-in-law,  and 
started  to  go  back  to  the  Land  of  the  Nile.  But 
while  he  was  still  in  the  wild  country  of  the  Arabs, 
whom  should  he  meet  but  his  own  brother  Aaron. 
He  kissed  him,  and  told  him  all  that  happened  to 
him,  and  how  he  had  been  bidden  to  go  down  and 
free  their  people  from  bondage,  and  lead  them  forth 
into  the  Promised  Land. 

Then  the  two  brothers  went  down  boldly  into  the 
Land  of  the  Nile,  and  told  their  people  that  they 
had  come  to  help  them;  and  the  people  believed 
them,  and  bowed  their  heads,  and  thanked  God 
that  he  had  at  last  sent  deliverance. 

Not  long  after  that,  Moses  and  his  brother  went 
up  and  stood  before  the  King,  and  asked  him  to 
allow  the  Children  of  the  Prince  to  go  three  days' 
march  into  the  wild  country  to  make  offerings  there 
to  their  God.  But  the  King  laughed  at  them  in 
scorn,  and  asked, — 

"  Who  is  your  God?  Why  do  you  hinder  the 
people  from  their  work  ?  " 


100 

And  he  ordered  the  taskmasters  to  put  more  work 
upon  the  poor  slaves,  and  to  whip  them  if  they  failed 
in  their  tasks.  This  they  did  ;  and  the  slaves  cried 
out  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  said,  "  If  we  had 
not  listened  to  you,  we  should  not  have  had  these 
things  to  bear.  You  have  made  our  burdens 
heavier  than  before." 

Then  Moses  and  Aaron  went  up  again,  and  stood 
before  the  King ;  and  they  carried  with  them  the 
rod  or  staff  which  Moses  had  used  when  he  kept 
his  father-in-law's  sheep  in  the  wild  country. 

"Who  is  your  God?-"  again  asked  the  King. 
"  Show  me  some  wonderful  thing  that  you  can  do 
through  his  help." 

Then  Aaron  threw  the  rod  down  upon  the  ground, 
and  it  was  turned  into  a  great  snake.  But  the  King 
twas  not  alarmed  at  this. 

"  I  have  seen  that  trick  before,"  he  said.  And  he 
sent  for  his  magicians,  and  told  them  what  Aaron 
had  done,  and  showed  them  the  snake  on  the 
ground. 

"  It  is  very  easily  done,"  they  said.  And  they 
threw  down  their  rods,  and  every  one  was  turned 
into  a  snake.  But  the  snake  that  had  sprung  from 
Aaron's  rod  swallowed  up  all  the  others,  and  then 
became  a  rod  again. 

"  Wonderful,  wonderful !  "  cried  the  magicians. 


lor 


"  Now  will  you  let  our  people  go  ?  "  asked  Moses. 

"  No,  I  will  not  let  them  go,"  said  the  King;  and 
he  sent  word  to  the  taskmasters  to  have  no  pity  for 
their  slaves,  but  to  make  their  burdens  still  heavier. 


IV.     THE    TEN    PLAGUES. 

The  next  morning  Moses  and  Aaron  went  again 
to  speak  to  the  King.  They  found  him  by  the  river- 
side, where  he  had  gone  for  his  daily  bath.  And 
Moses  said  to  him, — 

"O  King!  the  God  of  my  people  has  sent  me  to 
ask  you  to  let  them  go,  that  they  may  serve  him  in 
the  wild  country  beyond  the  Red  Sea." 

"  Who  is  your  God  ?  "  asked  the  King.  And  he 
bade  them  begone  from  his  sight. 

Then  Aaron  lifted  the  magic  rod,  and  stretched 
it  out  towards  the  river;  and  the  water  became  red 
like  blood,  and  no  one  could  drink  of  it,  and  all  the 
fishes  in  the  river  died.  The  King's  magicians  tried 
to  do  the  same  thing,  and  some  of  the  water  which 
they  touched  with  their  rods  was  turned  into  blood. 

Seven  days  passed  by,  and  then  Moses  again 
asked  the  King  to  let  the  people  go.  And 
when  the  King  refused,  as  before,  Aaron  stretched 
the  magic  rod  over  the  water  of  the  Nile ;  and 
frogs  came  up  out  of  the  river,  and  filled  the 


IO2 

whole  land,  and  hopped  into  the  houses  and  palaces, 
and  there  was  no  place  that  was  free  from  them. 
The  magicians  also  stretched  their  rods  over  the 
river,  and  more  frogs  came  leaping  out  of  the 
water. 

This  time  the  King  was  much  troubled ;  and  he 
told  Moses,  that,  if  he  would  pray  God  to  kill  all 
the  frogs,  he  would  do  what  he  wished,  and  let  the 
people  go.  But  when  the  frogs  were  all  gone,  the 
King  forgot  his  promise.  Then  Aaron  stretched 
out  the  rod  again,  and  the  land  was  filled  with  fleas 
and  other  vermin,  and  both  men  and  beasts  were 
covered  .with  them. 

"  This  is  the  finger  of  God,"  said  the  magi- 
cians. "  There  is  no  power  in  magic  to  do  such 
a  thing." 

But  the  King  was  still  stubborn,  and  would  not 
yield.  And  Moses  brought  up  great  swarms  of  flies, 
that  filled  the  houses,  and  lighted  on  everything  in 
the  land;  but  in  the  valley  of  Goshen,  where  most 
of  the  Children  of  the  Prince  lived,  there  were  no 
flies. 

"Why  cannot  your  people  stay  at  home  and  offer 
sacrifices  to  your  God  ?  "  asked  the  King. 

"  It  is  not  right  that  they  should  do  so,"  said 
Moses.  "  They  must  go  into  the  wild  country,  as 
he  has  bidden  them." 


103 

"  Then  they  may  go,"  said  the  King ;  "  only  rid 
the  land  of  these  swarms  of  flies." 

But  the  next  day,  when  the  flies  had  all  been 
removed,  the  King  again  changed  his  mind,  and 
said  — 

"  No,  they  shall  not  go.  Let  the  taskmasters 
give  them  still  more  work  to  do." 

Then  Moses  stretched  out  his  hand,  and  a  great 
sickness  broke  out  among  the  cattle  and  sheep,  and 
they  died  by  the  thousands  all  over  the  land.  But 
of  the  cattle  and  sheep  that  belonged  to  the  Chil- 
dren of  the  Prince  there  was  not  one  that  sickened, 
or  was  troubled  with  the  plague. 

"  Will  you  let  my  kinsmen  go  now  ? "  asked 
Moses. 

"  No,  they  shall  not  go,"  said  the  King. 

Then  the  two  brothers  scattered  ashes  in  the  air ; 
and  on  the  morrow  boils  and  grievous  sores  broke 
out  on  men  and  beasts,  and  even  on  the  magicians 
in  the  King's  palace.  And  when  the  King  still  re- 
fused, they  lifted  their  hands  towards  the  sky,  and 
there  was  a  great  storm  of  hail,  with  lightning  and 
thunder,  such  as  no  man  in  that  land  had  ever  seen 
before.  The  King  was  now  greatly  alarmed,  and 
he  cried  out,  "  I  have  sinned !  Pray  that  the  storm 
may  cease,  and  then  your  people  may  go  whitherso- 
ever they  wish."  But  when  the  storm  had  passed 


TJKIVKRSITT 


104 

by,  and  the  sky  was  again  clear  and  bright,  he  re- 
called his  promise. 

Moses  next  threatened,  that,  if  the  people  were 
not  allowed  to  go,  he  would  bring  locusts  or  grass- 
hoppers into  the  land,  that  should  fill  the  fields  and 
the  houses,  and  eat  up  every  green  thing  that  had 
not  been  destroyed  by  the  hail.  Then  the  wise 
men  of  the  land  begged  the  King  to  keep  his 
word,  and  do  as  he  had  promised. 

"  Let  the  men  go,  that  they  may  serve  the  Lord 
their  God,"  they  said. 

"  The  men  may  go,"  said  the  King,  "  but  the 
women  and  children  shall  not."  And  he  drove 
Moses  and  Aaron  out  of  the  palace. 

The  very  next  day  an  east  wind  blew  over  the 
land,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  locusts,  or  grass- 
hoppers, until  the  sun  was  hidden  from  sight,  and 
every  green  thing  was  eaten  up.  Then  the  King 
in  great  distress  cried  out,  — 

"  Forgive  my  sin  once  more.  Take  all  the  people 
of  the  Children  of  the  Prince,  and  lead  them  out 
into  the  wild  country,  as  you  have  asked." 

And  when  Moses  prayed,  there  came  a  strong 
west  wind  which  carried  the  grasshoppers  before 
it,  and  cast  them  all  into  the  Red  Sea.  But  the 
foolish  King  again  broke  his  promise. 

Then  Moses  lifted  his  hand  towards  the  sky,  and 


IDS 

for  three  days  there  was  thick  darkness  all  over 
the  land ;  only  in  the  valley  of  Goshen,  where  the 
Children  of  the  Prince  lived,  there  was  light.  And 
the  King  was  again  frightened,  and  said  to  Moses 
that  the  people  might  surely  go  this  time,  but 
that  they  should  leave  all  their  flocks  and  herds 
behind. 

"  No,  indeed!"  said  Moses,  "not  a  hoof  shall  they 
leave  behind." 

"  Then  begone  and  save  yourself!"  said  the  King 
in  great  anger.  "  If  you  dare  to  come  before  me 
again,  you  shall  die  !  " 

And  Moses  turned  away  from  him,  and  said, — 

"  I  will  see  your  face  no  more." 

And  then  the  tenth  and  last  plague  came. 

It  was  in  the  early  spring,  and  the  moon  was  at 
its  full.  At  midnight  the  angel  of  death  passed 
over  all  the  land,  and  in  every  house  the  eldest 
child  lay  dead.  Everywhere,  in  the  King's  palace 
as  well  as  in  the  lowliest  hut,  there  were  shrieks  of 
distress  and  grief,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  sounds 
of  mourning  and  despair.  But  it  was  not  so  in  the 
homes  of  the  Children  of  the  Prince.  Moses  had 
told  them  to  mark  their  doorposts  with  the  blood 
of  a  lamb,  so  that  the  death  angel,  as  he  passed, 
might  see  it,  and  not  enter  there.  And  so  they 
were  spared ;  while  those  who  had  enslaved  them, 


io6 

and  treated  them  with  so  great  harshness,  were 
afflicted  with  untold  grief. 

Then  the  King  sent  to  Moses  and  Aaron,  and 
begged  that  they  would  lead  their  people  out  of 
the  Land  of  the  Nile  quickly. 

"  Take  your  flocks  and  your  herds,  as  you  have 
said,  and  begone.  And  bless  me  also,"  he  said. 

V.     THE    LONG   JOURNEY. 

Then  Moses  and  Aaron  gathered  the  people 
together  in  haste,  and  they  began  their  perilous 
march  out  of  the  Land  of  the  Nile.  There  were 
more  than  half  a  million  men  and  women,  besides 
children ;  and  they  took  with  them  their  flocks  and 
herds,  and  all  the  goods  of  every  kind  that  they 
could  carry.  But  they  were  scarcely  halfway  to 
the  borders  of  the  land,  when  they  heard  that  the 
King,  with  a  great  army  and  six  hundred  chariots, 
was  following  after  them.  This  news  filled  every 
heart  with  fear;  and  many  of  them  cried  out 
against  Moses,  and  said,  — 

"  Why  did  you  not  let  us  alone  ?  It  would  have 
been  better  to  live  as  slaves  than  to  be  slain  with 
our  wives  and  children  here  in  the  desert." 

But  Moses  led  them  on  towards  the  east,  and  in 
the  evening  they  came  to  the  shore  of  the  Red  Sea. 


ro; 

What  now  should  they  do,  with  the  water  before 
them,  and  their  old  masters  close  behind  ?  It 
seemed  as  though  there  could  be  no  help  for  them 
at  all.  But  Moses  lifted  his  magic  staff,  and  a 
strong  wind  came  down  from  the  east,  and  blew  the 
tide  away ;  and,  as  the  sea  was  quite  shallow  there, 
the  sandy  bottom  was  soon  laid  bare.  Then  the 
Children  of  the  Prince, —  men,  women,^and  children, 
-  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  marched  boldly 
across  ;  and  a  pillar  of  fire  went  before  them  to  show 
them  the  way,  but  behind  them  was  a  dark  pillar  of 
cloud,  that  hid  them  from  the  sight  of  their  foes. 
All  night  long  they  marched  over  the  bared  sands 
of  the  shallow  sea,  and  at  daybreak  every  one  stood 
safe  on  the  farther  shore.  Then,  looking  back,  they 
saw  the  King's  chariots  and  his  armed  horsemen 
following  not  far  behind ;  but  the  sand  was  soft,  and 
the  wheels  dragged  heavily,  and  the  horses'  feet  sank 
deep  in  the  mire.  And  now  the  wind  died  away, 
and  the  tide  came  rushing  in,  and  the  waves  rose 
high,  and  the  King  and  his  hosts  were  seen  no 
more.  The  sea  had  swallowed  them  up. 

Thus  at  last  the  Children  of  the  Prince  were 
free:  they  were  now  on  the  borders  of  the  great 
wild  country  beyond  which  was  the  land  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey,  that  had  been  promised  to 
their  fathers  for  an  inheritance.  Then,  while  they 


(xoB) 


MOSES  LIFTED   HIS  MAGIC   STAFF. 


109 

rested  by  the  shore  of  the  sea,  Moses  made  up  a. 
song   of  victory,  and   of    thanksgiving    to   God  for 
having  thus  brought  them    safely  out  of  the  land 
of   bondage.      And    all    the    men    who    were    with 
him,  and  had  a  voice  for  music,  joined  in  singing  it. 

"  I  will  sing  unto  the  Lord, 
For  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously. 
The  horse  and  his  rider 
Hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea. 
The  Lord  is  my  strength  and  song, 
And  he  is  become  my  salvation." 

And  then  Miriam,  the  sister  of  Moses,  took  a 
.timbrel  in  her  hand,  and  all  the  women  went  out 
after  her  with  timbrels  and  dances ;  and  they 
answered  in  chorus, — 

"  Sing  ye  to  the  Lord, 
For  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously. 
The  horse  and  his  rider 
Hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 

This  was  the  way  in  which  the  Children  of  the 
Prince  began  their  long  journey  towards  the 
Promised  Land.  A  long  journey  indeed  it  proved 
to  be,  for  they  wandered  hither  and  thither  among 
the  mountains  and  in  the  desert  for  forty  years ; 
not  because  the  Promised  Land  was  so  far  away, 
but  because  they  could  not  agree  among  themselves, 


110 

were  afraid  of  the  people  who  already  lived 
there.  When  at  last  they  came  within  sight  of  the 
fair  country  which  was  to  be  their  home,  Moses 
was  very  old,  and  the  host  that  he  led  was  like 
the  sands  of  the  sea  for  number,  for  they  could 
not  be  counted.  And  yet  among  all  that  host 
there  were  only  two  men  who  had  been  with  him 
in  the  Land  of  the  Nile.  A  new  generation  had 
grown  up  during  the  long  wanderings,  and  the 
babes  who  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea  were  now 
middle-aged  men  and  women. 

"  I  shall  see  the  Promised  Land,  but  I  shall 
not  enter  into  it,"  said  Moses. 

And  he  went  up  into  a  high  mountain  where 
he  could  look  down  upon  the  fair  country.  Below 
him  lay  the  Dead  Sea,  where  the  wicked  cities 
of  the  plain  once  stood,  its  white  waters  glistening 
like  snow  in  the  sunshine ;  and  there  was  the  river 
which  we  call  the  Jordan,  winding  among  hills 
and  pleasant  groves  and  through  fruitful  valleys ; 
and  just  beyond  it  was  a  fair  city,  the  city  of  Jericho, 
nestling  among  tall  palms,  in  the  midst  of  fields  of 
waving  grain ;  and  stretching  away  and  away  to 
the  western  sky  were  the  fertile  plains,  the  rich 
valleys,  and  the  vine-clad  hills  of  the  Land  of 
Promise.  And  while  Moses  was  looking  upon  this 
delightful  prospect,  he  died ;  but  no  man  was  with 


Ill 


him,  and  no  one  ever  knew  where  his  body  was 
laid.  He  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  old, 
but  as  bright-eyed  and  hale  and  strong  as  he  had 
ever  been.  And  when  the  people  learned  that  he 
was  dead,  they  mourned  for  him  thirty  days. 

There  was  still  much  to  be  done  before  they 
could  enter  into  the  Promised  Land,  and  make  for 
themselves  homes  in  that  delightful  region.  Many 
tribes  of  warlike  men  dwelt  among  the  hills  and 
in  the  valleys,  and  these  they  must  fight  and  sub- 
due. Many  strong  and  high-walled  cities  stood  in 
the  midst  of  the  land,  and  these  they  must  cap- 
ture and  destroy.  And  so,  while  they  mourned 
for  their  great  leader,  their  captains  made  ready 
for  the  conflict  that  was  before  them,  and  the 
hearts  of  all  were  full  of  hope. 

"  It  shall  be  well  with  us,"  they  said  to  one 
another,  "  if  we  remember  the  words  that  Moses 
spoke  to  us ;  for  they  are  the  commandments  of 
God." 

And  always  after  that,  the  children  of  the 
Prince,  or  Israelites,  were  governed  by  the  laws 
which  Moses  had  given  them  while  they  were 
wandering  among  the  mountains  and  deserts  of 
wild  Arabia.  And  their  descendants  to  this  very 
day  remember  and  honor  him  as  their  greatest  law- 
giver and  the  most  famous  man  of  their  race. 


"THE   MAN   WHOSE  EYES  WERE  OPEN." 

I.     THE    SOOTHSAYER. 

THERE  lived  in  the  mountain  land  this  side  of 
the  great  river  Euphrates  a  Soothsayer  whose 
fame  had  gone  out  into  every  country  of  the  East. 
Some  men  said  that  he  was  a  prophet,  and  had 
learned  his  wisdom  from  on  high ;  and  others  said 
that  he  was  a  magician,  and  had  gotten  his  skill 
from  the  powers  of  evil.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  he 
foretold  many  things  truthfully,  and  people  came  to 
him  from  far  and  near  to  learn  about  matters  that 
were  to  them  strange  and  unknown. 

One  day  a  company  of  men  from  the  West  came 
to  see  him.  They  brought  with  them  gifts  of  gold 
and  frankincense  and  honey,  and  many  beautiful 
and  costly  things ;  and  when  they  had  rested  them- 
selves, and  washed  their  feet  and  their  hands,  and 
eaten  bread  with  him,  they  told  him  their  errand. 

"  Our  King,"  they  said,  "  sends  to  you  these  gifts  ; 
and  he  begs  that  you  will  make  all  haste  and  return 


112 


H3 

with  us,  that  so  you  may  save  our  country  from 
destruction." 

"  Where  is  your  country  ?  "  asked  the  Soothsayer, 
"  and  how  can  I  save  it  from  destruction  ?  " 

"Our  country,"  they  answered,  "lies  five  days' 
journey  to  the  west,  with  the  desert  on  this  side 
of  it,  and  the  Dead  Sea  beyond ;  and  it  is  rich  in 
flocks  and  herds,  and  in  corn  and  honey.  But  a 
great  tribe  of  wandering  men  who  call  themselves 
the  Children  of  the  Prince  have  come  up  like  so 
many  grasshoppers  from  the  Land  of  the  Nile ;  and 
they  have  camped  on  the  borders  of  our  land,  and 
threaten  to  drive  us  from  our  fields  and  our  cities, 
and  to  destroy  us  from  the  earth,  as  they  have 
destroyed  the  nations  that  were  neighbors  to  us. 
We  know  that  we  are  not  strong  enough  to  stand 
against  them,  for  they  are  like  the  sands  of  the  sea 
in  number.  And  so  our  King  sends  you  this  mes- 
sage :  '  Come,  I  pray  you,  and  curse  this  people, 
and  then  we  shall  prevail  against  them,  and  drive 
them  out  of  the  land;  for  I  know  that  he  whom 
you  bless  is  blessed  indeed,  and  that  he  whom  you 
curse  is  accursed.'" 

"  Why  should  I  do  this  thing  for  your  King,  who 
is  a  stranger  to  me  ?  "  said  the  Soothsayer.  "  But 
lodge  with  me  in  my  house  to-night,  and  in  the 
morning  I  will  tell  you  whether  I  will  go." 

STO.  OF  THE   EAST — 8 


So  the  men  staid  with  the  Soothsayer  that 
night,  and  in  the  morning  he  brought  them  his 
answer. 

"  Go  back  into  your  own  land,"  said  he,  "  and  tell 
your  King  that  I  will  not  curse  the  people  who  call 
themselves  the  Children  of  the  Prince :  for  in  the 
night  I  had  a  vision,  and  a  voice  spoke  to  me,  and 
said,  '  Go  not  with  the  men,  and  do  not  curse  the 
people  who  have  come  up  out  of  the  Nile  country; 
for  they  are  my  people,  and  they  are  blessed.' " 

The  men  bowed  themselves,  and  then  mounted 
their  camels,  and  made  all  speed  to  carry  this  an- 
swer back  to  their  King. 

Ten  days  after  that,  there  came  to  the  Soothsayer 
other  men  from  the  same  country;  and  they  were 
the  princes  of  the  land,  and  stood  next  to  the  King. 
They  brought  two  gold  cups  as  presents  for  the 
Soothsayer,  besides  many  other  gifts  of  great  beauty 
and  worth. 

"O  wise  man  of  the  East!"  they  cried,  "our 
master  the  King  prays  that  you  will  let  nothing 
hinder  you  from  going  to  him  at  once.  See  these 
rich  presents  which  he  has  sent!  and  you  shall 
have  many  more,  and  the  King  will  give  you  the 
highest  office  in  the  land,  if  you  will  only  hasten 
and  curse  these  robbers  who  call  themselves  the 
Children  of  the  Prince:  for  now  they  have  crossed 


our  borders,  and  are  burning  our  towns,  and 
driving  away  our  flocks,  and  killing  our  people; 
and  we  are  not  strong  enough  to  stand  against 
them." 

The  Soothsayer  took  the  presents  from  their 
hands,  and  said,  "  I  would  fain  please  your  King, 
for  he  seems  to  be  fair-minded  and  just;  and  yet, 
if  he  were  to  give  me  a  house  full  of  silver  and 
gold,  I  cannot  do  that  which  he  wishes,  unless  the 
God  whom  I  worship  bids  me.  But  lodge  with  me 
to-night,  and  in  the  morning  I  will  answer  you." 

So  the  princes  slept  in  the  house  of  the  Sooth- 
sayer that  night;  and  in  the  morning  when  they 
arose,  they  found  him  with  his  cloak  upon  his 
shoulders,  and  his  sandals  on  his  feet,  ready  for  a 
long  journey. 

"  Let  us  lose  no  time,"  said  he,  "for  I  will  go 
with  you  to  your  country.  But  what  I  shall  say 
to  those  enemies  of  yours,  whether  cursings  or 
blessings,  I  know  not." 


II.     THE    VISION. 


Over  the  hills  and  across  the  lonely  desert,  the 
Soothsayer  and  the  princes  made  their  way,  having 
their  faces  always  towards  the  place  of  the  setting 
sun.  The  princes  rode  on  fleet-footed  camels,  with 


u6 

spearsmen  leading  the  way ;  and  the  Soothsayer 
followed  them,  mounted  on  an  ambling  donkey, 
with  his  two  servants  running  behind.  On  the 
fifth  day  they  reached  the  borders  of  a  fair 
country  where  there  were  trees  and  vines,  and 
now  and  then  a  field  of  grain,  or  a  green  pasture 
where  sheep  were  feeding. 

"  This  is  our  land,"  said  one  of  the  princes,  - 
"  the  land  of  which  these  men  from  the  Nile  would 
rob  us." 

After  a  time  they  came  to  a  place  where  the 
road  was  quite  narrow,  with  a  vineyard  on  one 
side,  and  a  field  of  grain  on  the  other. 

The  Soothsayer  was  riding  carelessly  along, 
looking  at  the  great  clusters  of  grapes  upon  the 
vines,  when  all  at  once  his  donkey  sprang  to  one 
side,  and  ran  into  the  field.  What  could  ail  the 
beast !  She  had  never  acted  so  before. 

Her  master  beat  her  soundly  with  his  cane,  and  at 
last  forced  her  to  go  back  into  the  road. 

A  little  while  after,  they  came  to  a  place  where 
there  was  a  stone  wall  on  either  side  of  the  road. 
Here  the  donkey  stopped,  and  tried  to  go  back.  But 
when  the  Soothsayer  beat  her  again,  she  sprang  to 
one  side  and  rushed  forward,  crushing  her  master's 
foot  against  the  wall. 

"  Is  the  beast  mad  ?  "  said  one  of  the  servants. 


ii; 

"  Nay,"  said  the  other,  "  I  think  that  she  has  seen 
a  spirit ; "  for  in  those  times  people  believed  that 
some  animals  were  gifted  with  powers  of  sight 
that  were  denied  to  men,  and  that  they  could  see 
things  which  our  dull  eyes  cannot  perceive. 

And  now  the  road  became  still  narrower.  It 
was  a  mere  path  between  two  rocky  banks,  and  was 
barely  wide  enough  for  a  camel  to  pass  with  his 
rider  on  his  back. 

All  at  once  the  donkey  stopped,  and  then  fell 
down  upon  her  knees.  The  Soothsayer  had  been 
vexed  before,  but  now  he  was  in  a  rage.  He 
seized  a  stick  that  was  lying  on  the  ground,  and 
beat  the  donkey  with  many  a  blow. 

"  What  have  I  done,"  cried  the  poor  beast,  "  that 
you  should  beat  me  so  cruelly?" 

"You  have  mocked  me,  you  have  mocked 
me ! "  answered  her  master.  "  If  I  only  had  a  sword 
in  my  hand,  I  would  kill  you  !" 

"  Have  I  not  served  you  well  ever  since  I  be- 
longed to  you?"  said  the  donkey.  "And  did  I 
ever  behave  in  this  way  before  ? " 

"  No,"  said  the  Soothsayer ;  and  then,  looking  up, 
he  saw  the  cause  of  the  beast's  affright.  Right  in 
the  path  before  him  stood  a  shining  being,  whose 
face  was  like  the  sun,  and  who  held  in  his  hand  a 
drawn  sword  of  wondrous  length.  There  was  no 


n8 

way  to  pass  by,  either  on  the  right  or  on  the  left, 
and  to  go  forward  would  be  to  meet  death  at  the 
point  of  the  sword.  The  Soothsayer  covered  his 
face  with  his  hands,  and  bowed  himself  to  the 
ground. 

"  Why  have  you  beaten  your  poor  beast  these 
three  times  ?"  said  the  bright  being.  "  I  have  come 
out  to  meet  you,  because  your  heart  was  not  right, 
and  you  were  longing  for  the  rewards  which  the 
King  of  this  land  has  promised  you.  If  the  donkey 
had  not  seen  me,  and  turned  aside,  I  would  have 
killed  you,  and  saved  her  alive." 

The  Soothsayer  was  filled  with  fear,  and  cried 
out  for  mercy. 

"  Truly,  I  have  done  wrong,"  he  cried.  "  I  did 
not  know  that  you  were  standing  in  the  way. 
Spare  me  now,  I  pray,  and  I  will  go  back  into  my 
own  country  with  all  haste." 

"  Not  so,"  said  the  bright  being.  "  Arise,  and 
ride  on  with  the  men  of  the  King.  But  have  a 
care  that  you  speak  only  the  words  which  you  are 
bidden  to  speak." 

Then  the  Soothsayer  arose  and  looked ;  but  the 
flashing  sword  was  no  longer  in  the  way,  and  the 
shining  being  with  the  sun-bright  face  had  vanished. 
He  spoke  kindly  to  the  trembling  donkey,  and  then 
he  rode  on  to  overtake  the  men  of  the  King. 


"  Is  our  master  mad?"  said  one  of  his  servants. 
"  He  never  acted  so  strangely  before/' 

"  Nay,"  said  the  other ;  "  I  think  that  he  too 
must  have  seen  a  spirit." 


III.     THE    FIRST    MOUNTAIN. 


When  the  King  of  the  land  heard  that  the  Sooth- 
sayer had  come,  he  went  out  to  meet  him ;  and  he 
again  promised  him  great  rewards  if  he  would  curse 
the  Children  of  the  Prince. 

"  I  have  no  power  either  to  bless  or  to  curse," 
said  the  Soothsayer,  "  only  as  it  is  given  to  me  from 
on  high." 

On  the  morrow  they  went  up  into  a  high  moun- 
tain, from  near  the  top  of  which  they  could  see  all 
the  country  around.  Looking  to  the  southward, 
they  saw  the  plains  covered  with  the  tents  of  the 
strange  people  who  had  come  up  out  of  the  Land  of 
the  Nile.  There  were  thousands  of  men  and  women 
and  children ;  and  their  flocks  and  herds  dotted  the 
hillsides  for  miles  away. 

"  Build  seven  altars  here  on  the  mountain  top," 
said  the  Soothsayer,  "  and  bring  me  seven  fat  oxen 
and  seven  rams." 

The  servants  of  the  King  hastened  to  do  as  they 
were  bidden;  and  the  Soothsayer  killed  the  oxen 


120 

and  the  rams,  and  then  laid  the  choicest  parts  of 
the  flesh  upon  the  wood  of  the  altars. 

"  Now  bring  me  fire,"  he  said ;  and  soon  seven 
columns  of  smoke  arose  from  the  altars,  and  the 
flames  burst  out,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  the 
pleasant  odor  of  the  burning  flesh. 

Then  the  Soothsayer  said  to  the  King,  "  Stand 
here  by  the  altars,  and  I  will  go  aside  by  myself. 
It  may  be  that  a  spirit  will  come  and  talk  with 
me,  and  tell  me  what  to  do." 

He  walked  away,  and  climbed  still  higher  up  the 
mountain  side.  At  last,  when  he  reached  the  top 
of  the  highest  peak,  he  stood  still  and  wrapped  his 
cloak  about  him,  and  waited  in  the  midst  of  the 
smoke  which  came  up  from  the  burnt  offerings. 
And  the  King  and  his  princes  stood  in  silence  by 
the  altars. 

At  last  the  oxen  and  the  rams  were  burnt  up, 
the  fires  died  away,  and  nothing  but  white  ashes 
was  left  on  the  loose  stones  of  the  altars ;  and  then 
the  Soothsayer,  with  slow  steps,  came  down  to  meet 
the  King. 

"  O  man  of  wisdom !  "  cried  the  King,  "  is  it  well 
with  you  ?  Come,  stand  on  this  jutting  rock,  where 
you  can  see  the  host  of  robbers,  and  then  curse 
them  every  one,  that  so  our  land  may  be  saved 
from  destruction." 


w 
c/a 

i 


(121) 


122 

The  Soothsayer  stood  upon  the  rock,  and  lifted 
his  hands  towards  heaven  ;  and  then  he  spoke  :  — 

"  From  my  mountain  home  in  the  East 
The  King  of  this  land  has  called  me. 
He  would  have  me  curse  this  people 
Who  have  come  up  from  the  Land  of  the  Nile. 
But  how  shall  I  curse  whom  God  hath  blessed? 
How  shall  I  defy  whom  God  hath  not  defied? 
From  the  top  of  the  rocks  I  see  them, 
And  from  the  hills  I  behold  them. 
Lo,  they  shall  dwell  alone  in  the  land, 
And  there  shall  be  none  beside  them. 
Who  can  count  the  Children  of  the  Prince, 
Or  number  a  fourth  of  this  people  ? 
Oh,  give  me  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
And  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  ! " 

When  the  King  heard  these  words,  he  was  angry, 
and  cried  out,  "  What  are  you  doing  ?  I  brought 
you  here  to  curse  my  enemies,  and,  instead  of  that, 
you  have  blessed  them." 

But  the  Soothsayer  answered,  "  Must  I  not 
speak  the  words  that  are  given  to  me  from  on 
high?  for  I  have  no  power  of  my  own  either  to 
bless  or  to  curse." 

"  This  is  not  a  good  place,"  said  the  King,  "  and 
perhaps  you  have  not  heard  the  right  voice.  To- 
morrow we  will  go  up  into  another  mountain,  and 
try  again." 


123 


IV.     THE    SECOND    MOUNTAIN. 


The  next  day  the  King  and  his  princes  and  the 
Soothsayer  climbed  to  the  top  of  Mount  Pisgah. 
It  was  much  higher  than  the  other  mountain. 
From  its  summit  they  could  see  all  the  country 
spread  out  before  them  like  a  map.  At  their 
right,  almost  at  their  feet,  was  the  Dead  Sea,  its 
calm  waters  glistening  like  silver  in  the  rays  of 
the  sun.  Beyond  it  were  the  hills  and  valleys 
of  the  Land  of  Promise,  where  were  thousands 
of  fields  and  orchards  and  vineyards,  and  many 
a  white-walled  city  half  hidden  among  groves  of 
stately  palm  trees.  It  was  a  wonderful  and  beauti- 
ful sight ;  but  the  Soothsayer  turned  away  to  view 
the  plains  that  were  stretched  out  before  him  and 
on  his  left.  There  he  could  see  the  encampment 
of  the  Children  of  the  Prince,  but  it  was  so  far 
away  that  the  people  looked  like  mere  specks 
moving  about  from  place  to  place. 

"Build  seven  altars  here,"  he  said,  uand  bring 
seven  fat  oxen  and  seven  rams  for  a  burnt 
offering." 

And  when  the  smoke  arose  from  the  altars,  he 
said  to  the  King,  "  Stand  here  while  I  go  yonder." 
And  he  went  and  hid  himself  in  a  cave  among  the 
rocks,  where  no  one  could  see  or  hear ;  and  when 


124    * 

he  had  covered  his  face  with  his  cloak,  he  stood 
still  and  waited  for  a  long  time. 

Hour  after  hour  passed  by,  the  fires  on  the  altars 
burned  low,  and  the  King  and  his  princes  grew 
tired  of  waiting;  but  when  the  sun  was  almost 
down,  the  Soothsayer  came  out  from  his  place  and 
stood  before  them. 

"  What  is  your  message  this  time  ? "  asked  the 
King. 

The  Soothsayer  raised  his  eyes  and  held  up  his 
hands,  and  said, — 

"  God  is  not  man,  that  he  should  lie, 
Nor  the  son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent. 
Hath  he  said,  and  shall  he  not  do  it  ? 
Hath  he  spoken,  and  shall  it  not  be  so  ? 
He  hath  blessed,  and  I  cannot  curse. 
Behold,  this  people  shall  rise  up  as  a  great  lion, 
As  a  young  lion  shall  they  lift  themselves  up ; 
They  shall  not  lie  down  until  they  eat  of  the  prey, 
And  drink  of  the  blood  of  the  slain." 

The  King  was  very  angry  because  the  Sooth- 
sayer blessed  the  people  a  second  time,  but  he 
still  hoped  that  there  was  some  mistake. 

"  This  is  not  a  good  place,"  he  said.  "  To- 
morrow we  will  look  down  upon  our  enemies 
from  the  hill  of  Peor.  It  may  be  that  you  will 
be  allowed  to  curse  them  from  there." 


125 

V.     THE    THIRD    MOUNTAIN. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  King  and  the  Sooth- 
sayer, with  their  servants  and  the  princes  of  the 
land,  went  up  into  the  mountain  called  Peor.  It 
was  not  a  very  high  mountain,  but  on  it  was  a 
temple  in  which  was  an  image  of  one  of  the  gods 
of  that  country;  and  the  King  hoped  that  the 
Soothsayer  would  hear  the  voice  of  this  god.  As 
they  stood  and  looked  down  upon  the  plain,  they 
could  see  the  Children  of  the  Prince  moving  in  and 
out  among  their  tents.  They  could  hear  the  shouts 
of  the  men,  and  the  songs  of  the  women,  and  the 
merry  voices  of  the  boys  and  girls ;  for  the  en- 
campment was  very  near. 

"  Build  me  here  seven  altars,  and  get  ready  seven 
fat  oxen  and  seven  rams,"  said  the  Soothsayer. 

And  the  King's  servants  made  haste  to  do  as 
they  were  bidden ;  and  soon  an  ox  and  a  ram  were 
smoking  on  every  altar.  Then  the  Soothsayer, 
instead  of  going  away  by  himself,  turned  his  face 
towards  the  plain,  and  looked  down  upon  the  tents. 

"O  King!"  he  said,  "hear  now  the  words  of 
the  man  whose  eyes  are  open.  Twice  already  he 
has  spoken  that  which  was  given  to  him  when 
in  a  trance ;  twice  has  he  said  what  he  heard  in 
a  trance  with  his  eyes  open. 


126 

"  How  goodly  are  the  tents  of  the  Children  of  the  Prince  ! 
As  valleys  are  they  spread  forth, 
As  gardens  by  the  riverside, 
As  aloes  which  God  hath  planted, 
As  cedar  trees  beside  the  waters." 

Then  the  King  was  very  angry,  and  he  clapped 
his  hands  together,  and  bade  the  Soothsayer  stop. 

"  Did  I  not  call  you  here  to  curse  my  enemies  ? 
Did  I  not  promise  you  great  rewards,  and  show 
you  the  lands  and  houses  that  I  would  give  you  ? 
And  now,  instead  of  cursing  these  people,  you  have 
blessed  them  three  times." 

"  Did  I  not  say  unto  your  messengers,"  answered 
the  Soothsayer, "  that,  if  their  King  should  offer  me 
his  house  full  of  gold  and  silver,  I  would  not  speak 
one  word,  whether  good  or  bad,  that  was  not  given 
me  from  on  high  ?  " 

"  It  is  enough/'  said  the  King.  "  If  you  would 
save  your  life,  flee  from  this  place  at  once." 

Then  the  Soothsayer  spoke  again. 

"  O  King !  "  said  he,  "  hear  the  words  of  the  man 
whose  eyes  are  open.  Hear  the  words  which 
were  given  to  him  when  he  was  in  a  trance,  hav- 
ing his  eyes  open  :  — 

"  I  shall  see  him,  but  not  now ; 
I  shall  behold  him,  but  not  nigh ; 
From  this  people  a  star  shall  rise, 


127 

From  them  shall  come  a  mighty  king ; 
And  he  shall  smite  the  corners  of  your  land, 
And  destroy  all  that  dwell  in  your  cities." 

And  when  he  had  finished  speaking,  he  went 
down  the  mountain,  and  hastened  to  go  into  his 
own  country.  And  the  King  and  his  princes  went 
their  own  way,  and  sought  to  find  some  other  means 
by  which  to  save  their  land. 

The  name  of  "  the  man  whose  eyes  were  open  " 
was  Balaam,  and  the  name  of  the  King  was  Balak. 
And  there  is  a  story  that  Balaam  afterwards  tried 
to  help  the  King  in  another  way;  for  he  persuaded 
many  of  the  Children  of  the  Prince  to  worship  the 
strange  god  whose  image  was  on  the  mountain  of 
Peor.  But  in  the  end  he  joined  himself  with  the 
wild  tribes  of  the  desert;  and,  in  a  great  battle 
that  was  fought  against  the  people  whom  he  had 
blessed,  he  was  slain  with  the  sword. 


THE   BEE   AND   THE   GAZELLE. 

I.     THE    BEE. 

THEY  called  her  Deborah,  or  the  Bee,  for  that 
was  the  name  which  in  those  days  was  given  to 
wise  women  and  singers  of  songs. 

She  lived  in  a  little  house  under  a  palm  tree,  and 
she  was  the  busiest  person  in  all  the  land.  Men 
came  from  far  and  near  to  tell  her  about  their 
troubles  and  to  ask  her  advice.  She  settled  their 
quarrels,  and  punished  wrongdoers,  and  helped  the 
poor,  and  bade  everybody  hope  for  the  coming  of 
better  days. 

"  She  ought  to  be  our  queen,"  some  would  say. 

"  But  we  are  slaves,  and  our  people  dare  not  have 
a  queen,"  said  others. 

"  Then  we  will  call  her  our  judge,"  was  the  answer, 
"  and  we  will  do  what  she  bids." 

Those  were  indeed  dark  days  for  the  Children  of 
the  Prince.  Twenty  years  before,  the  King  of  the 
Canaanites,  or  Low  Country  Folk,  had  sent  an  army 

128 


I2Q 

against  them,  and  had  taken  all  their  towns,  and 
had  made  them  his  servants;  and  ever  since  then 
they  had  done  his  bidding,  and  had  not  dared  to  call 
anything  their  own.  It  was  of  no  use  for  them  to 
till  their  fields  and  raise  fine  crops  of  grain  ;  it  was 
of  no  use  to  tend  their  flocks  or  care  for  their  vines 
and  fruit  trees :  the  Low  Country  Folk  might  come 
any  day  and  take  everything  from  them.  The -peo- 
ple left  their  homes  in  the  towns,  and  fled  to  the 
woods  and  hills ;  and  no  one  dared  to  travel  on 
the  highroads,  but  skulked  from  place  to  place  by 
secret  pathways. 

"  We  are  slaves,"  they  groaned,  "  and  there  is  no 
help  for  us." 

But  there  was  one  person  who  did  not  lose  heart, 
and  that  person  was  the  Bee.  She  busied  herself 
every  day  in  making  plans  to  free  her  people.  She 
sent  trusted  spies  into  the  Low  Country  to  see  what 
the  King  was  doing ;  she  learned  all  about  his  fight- 
ing men,  and  knew  how  many  he  could  call  into 
battle.  Then  she  went  out  among  the  hills  and 
called  the  men  of  her  own  nation  together,  and  bade 
them  be  ready  at  any  moment  to  rise  up  against 
their  tyrant  master. 

Eighty  miles  away  there  lived  a  young  man 
named  Barak,  whom  she  chose  to  be  their  leader. 
He  was  so  brave  and  strong,  and  withal  so  bright 

STO.    OF  THE   EAST  —  9 


130 

and  quick,  that  he  was  called  Lightning ;  and 
there  was  not  a  man  in  all  the  land  who  would 
not  gladly  obey  him.  One  day  the  Bee  sent  for 
him,  and  said, — 

"  The  time  has  come  now  to  make  a  bold  move 
for  freedom,  and  we  must  act  at  once.  How  many 
men  can  you  muster  ?  " 

And  Lightning  said,  "  Within  two  days'  journey 
from  this  place  there  are  ten  thousand  who  are  only 
waiting  to  be  called." 

"  Then  do  not  wait,"  said  the  Bee,  "  but  send 
out  your  messengers,  and  give  the  signal  this  very 
night  for  them  to  come  together.  Waste  no  time, 
but  have  every  man  hasten  to  this  place,  that  so 
you  may  march  out  in  great  strength  against  our 
foes." 

That  night  swift  messengers  sped  through  the 
woods  and  among  the  hills,  and  beacon  lights 
flashed  on  every  mountain  top  in  the  land ;  and 
from  among  the  rocks  and  glens  came  company 
after  company  of  desperate  men,  all  rallying  to  the 
call  of  their  leader. 

On  the  third  day  Lightning  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  great  army.  Some  of  the  men  had  come 
with  swords  and  spears,  some  with  axes,  and  many 
with  nothing  but  clubs  and  stones.  But  all  were 
full  of  hope,  and  ready  to  fight. 


"  Better  die  now  than  live  longer  in  slavery,"  they 
said. 

Then  the  Bee  said  to  Lightning,  "  Go  forth  with 
your  hosts,  and  draw  towards  Mount  Tabor,  the 
Stone  Quarry  Mountain.  The  army  of  the  Low 
Country  Folk  will  come  out  to  meet  you,  and  you 
shall  utterly  overcome  them." 

But  Lightning  began  now  to  feel  afraid. 

"  Do  you  know,"  said  he,  "  that  the  leader  of  our 
enemies  is  Sisera,  the  greatest  warrior  in  the  world? 
Men  call  him  Battlefield,  for  he  has  never  yet  been 
beaten  in  fight.  He  has  nine  hundred  iron  chariots, 
and  our  people  have  suffered  much  at  his  hands. 
How  can  we  prevail  against  him  ? " 

"  But  you  will  prevail  against  him,"  said  Bee. 
u  Go  forth,  and  fear  not." 

Then  Lightning  said,  "  If  you  will  go  with  me, 
then  I  will  go;  but  if  you  will  not  go  with  me,  then 
I  will  not  go." 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  Bee,  "  I  will  go.  But,  mark 
what  I  say !  the  honors  of  the  day  shall  not  be 
yours,  but  another's ;  for  the  Lord  of  the  Battlefield 
shall  meet  his  death  at  the  hands  of  a  woman." 

Then  she  went  out  and  took  her  place  with 
Lightning  at  the  head  of  the  army ;  and  they 
marched  to  the  foot  of  the  Stone  Quarry  Moun- 
tain, and  there  awaited  the  coming  of  their  foes. 


132 


II.     THE    GAZELLE. 


It  is  noonday. 

The  sun  shines  down  hot  upon  the  grassy  plain. 
The  air  is  close  and  stifling.  There  is  hardly  a 
sign  of  life  to  be  seen  anywhere. 

But  here,  in  the  sparse  shade  of  some  stunted 
shrubs,  a  few  sheep  and  lambs  are  lying.  They 
are  panting  for  breath,  it  is  so  hot.  Tempting  as 
the  short,  sweet  grass  must  be,  .they  do  not  care 
to.  stir  about  in  the  fierce  blazing  sunlight. 

A  man  is  making  his  way  across  the  plain.  He 
has  come  down  from  the  hills  over  towards  the 
Stone  Quarry  Mountain,  and  he  is  alone  and  on 
foot.  He  looks  around  him  all  the  time  as  though 
fearful  of  being  seen.  He  skulks  behind  the 
shrubs,  and  stops  now  and  then  to  listen.  His 
feet  are  blistered  and  swollen  with  traveling  over 
the  hot  stony  ground.  His  face  is  wild  and 
haggard.  The  slightest  sound  startles  him. 

He  sees  the  sheep  lying  under  the  shrubs. 

"  Ah !  this  must  be  the  pasture  ground  of  my 
old-time  friend,  the  Arab  sheik,"  he  says.  "  If 
so,  his  tents  cannot  be  far  away." 

He  climbs  a  little  mound,  and  stands  up  straight 
and  looks  about  him.  Yes,  yonder,  a  mile  away, 
is  a  cluster  of  palm  trees,  and  in  its  midst  he 


133 

can  see  the  white  tops  of  tents.  How  cool  and 
inviting !  And  there  is  water  there  to  quench 
his  burning  thirst.  If  he  can  only  reach  that 
grove,  he  will  be  saved. 

But  what  if  his  enemies  have  gotten  there 
before  him  ?  In  that  case  he  had  better  die  of 
the  heat  and  of  thirst,  alone  on  the  great  plain. 
But  his  throat  is  already  parched  and  dry,  his 
tongue  is  swollen,  his  brain  is  on  fire.  He  will 
take  all  risks  for  one  drop  of  water. 

At  last  the  man  reaches  the  edge  of  the  grove. 
He  drags  himself  into  the  shade  of  a  palm  tree, 
and  glances  wildly  about  him.  There  are  the 
tents,  only  a  stone's  throw  away;  but  not  a  living 
creature  is  to  be  seen.  Even  the  dogs  are  sleeping. 

And  there  is  the  well,  with  cool,  refreshing  water 
at  its  bottom.  He  will  make  a  dash  for  it,  although 
he  must  pass  close  by  the  door  of  the  women's 
tent 

But  he  reels  and  staggers  now.  He  has  hardly 
strength  to  put  one  foot  before  the  other.  And 
—  who  is  that?  In  the  door  of  the  women's  tent 
stands  Jael,  or  the  Gazelle,  the  beautiful  wife  of 
the  Arab  sheik.  She  has  been  watching  him 
for  some  time ;  indeed,  she  saw  him  while  he 
was  skulking  across  the  plain.  Will  she  know 
him  in  his  strange,  pitiable  plight? 


(134)  IN   THE   DOOR   OF  THE   WOMEN'S   TENT   STANDS   JAEL. 


135 

Yes.  She  calls  to  him  as  he  turns  his  wild 
eyes  towards  her. 

"  O  Lord  of  the  Battlefield  !  "  she  cries.  "  Wel- 
come to  our  tents !  Come  in  and  rest  yourself, 
for  the  heat  of  the  sun  is  unbearable,  and  you 
must  be  weary  with  your  journey." 

She  takes  his  arm,  and  helps  him  into  the  tent. 
He  falls  upon  the  cushions  by  the  curtained  door, 
and  gasps,  "  Water,  water !  " 

"  Here  is  something  better  than  water,"  she 
says;  and  she  fetches  a  leathern  bottle  full  of 
cool  delicious  buttermilk.  He  drinks,  and  is  at 
once  refreshed.  He  looks  into  the  great  dark 
eyes  of  the  Gazelle,  and  his  courage  comes  to  him 
again.  Surely  he  can  trust  her ;  surely  she  will 
befriend  him. 

"  Now  tell  me,"  she  says,  —  and  she  speaks  very 
kindly,  —  "tell  me  what  has  happened,  that  you, 
the  greatest  warrior  in  the  world,  must  needs 
flee  thus,  on  foot  and  alone,  across  the  great 
plain." 

"  Then  you  have  not  heard  about  it  ? "  answers 
the  chief,  and  his  face  lights  up  with  hope.  "  I 
feared  that  my  enemies  had  been  here  before  me; 
nay,  that  they  might  be  in  the  sheik's  tents  even 
now.  But,  since  you  have  asked  me,  I  will  tell  you. 
Three  days  ago  a  great  host  of  the  Children  of  the 


136 

Prince  came  up  and  encamped  on  the  slope  of  the 
Stone  Quarry  Mountain.  They  were  led  by  their 
wise  woman  whom  they  call  the  Bee,  and  by  the 
young  outlaw  chief  whom  they  have  nicknamed 
Lightning  ;  and  they  defied  me  to  meet  them  in 
battle.  Then  I  marshaled  my  army,  and  rode  out 
to  meet  them  with  nine  hundred  iron  chariots 
behind  me,  and  thousands  of  horsemen,  besides 
bowmen  and  spearsmen  without  number ;  and  we 
thought  to  make  short  work  of  the  rebels.  We 
met  them  early  in  the  day,  by  the  side  of  the  river 
at  the  foot  of  the  mountain ;  and  we  fought  until 
the  sun  was  in  the  west.  But  we  could  not  stand 
before  them.  The  stars  were  against  us  from  the 
first.  My  horsemen  were  overthrown,  my  chariots 
were  broken  in  pieces,  my  fighting  men  were  slain, 
my  army  was  routed,  and  I  escaped  only  with  my 
life.  .  .  o  They  hunted  me  like  a  wild  beast. 
They  drove  me  out  of  the  hill  country,  and  I 
could  find  no  hiding  place  nor  safety  anywhere. 
There  was  only  one  thing  for  me  to  do,  and  that 
was  to  cross  the  great  plain,  and  seek  my  kindred 
in  the  lowlands  of  the  east.  But  my  enemies  are 
not  far  behind  me.  They  are  on  my  track,  and 
they  may  overtake  me  this  very  day." 

"  Fear  not,  my  lord,"  says  the  Gazelle.     "  They 
will  not  dare  come  into  my  tent  without  my  leave. 


137 

And  so  lie  down  a  while  and  rest  until  the  cool  of 
the  day,  for  I  know  that  you  must  be  sorely  in 
want  of  sleep." 

He  needs  not  to  be  urged,  for  it  is  now  three 
days  since  he  has  had  any  rest.  He  stretches 
himself  upon  the  floor  behind  the  curtains,  and 
she  covers  him  with  a  cloak. 

"  Now  stand  in  the  tent  door,"  he  says;  "and  if 
any  one  comes,  and  asks,  '  Is  there  a  man  in  here  ? ' 
tell  him,  'No.'  " 

In  another  moment  he  is  asleep.  The  Gazelle, 
from  her  place  by  the  tent  door,  hears  his  loud 
breathing.  A  fearful  change  comes  over  her  beau- 
tiful face.  Her  great  eyes  do  not  sparkle  with 
kindness  and  gentleness:  they  glare  wildly,  and 
her  cheeks  grow  pale.  She  trembles,  but  not  with 
fear. 

"  It  was  he  that  enslaved  my  mother's  people," 
she  whispers  to  herself;  "it  was  he  that  robbed 
my  kinsmen ;  it  was  he  that  slew  my  poor  brothers, 
and  would  not  listen  to  their  prayers  for  mercy. 
Why  did  I  not  drive  him  away  to  die  of  thirst? 
But  he  might  have  escaped.  He  may  yet  escape; 
and  then  he  will  raise  another  army,  and  come  and 
oppress  my  people  again.  It  were  a  sin  to  let  him 
do  this.  But  what  can  I  do  ?  " 

There  is  no  one  near  to  whom  she  can  call.     The 


138 

men  have  not  been  at  home  for  now  four  days. 
Only  women  and  children  are  in  the  tents,  and 
they  are  sleeping  through  the  heat  of  the  day. 

"  In  the  evening,"  she  says,  "  he  will  awaken,  and 
be  refreshed,  and  go  on  his  way.  Our  men  can 
hardly  take  him  then,  even  though  they  come ;  and 
he  will  soon  be  among  his  friends.  But  it  must  not 
be.  I  myself  will  save  my  people." 

She  glances  hastily  about  her.  She  does  not  ask 
herself,  "  Is  it  right  ?  "  She  has  never  been  taught 
the  great  law,  Forgive  your  enemies.  She  thinks 
only  of  avenging  the  wrongs  which  her  kinspeople 
have  suffered. 

But  what  can  she  do,  —  she,  a  weak  woman,  with 
no  weapon  of  any  kind  ? 

Ah,  what  is  that  on  the  ground  at  her  feet  ?  A 
long  sharp-pointed  tent  pin  lies  there,  and  near  it 
is  a  heavy  hammer.  She  can  handle  these  more 
.easily  than  a  sword. 

Softly,  on  tiptoes,  she  goes  behind  the  curtains. 
She  stoops  over  the  sleeping  man.  The  cloak  does 
not  wholly  cover  his  head.  The  Gazelle  holds  the 
tent  pin  in  one  hand,  and  the  hammer  in  the  other. 
She  shudders. 

A  moment  later  she  runs,  shrieking,  from  the  tent. 

With  white  face  and  frightened  eyes,  she  stands 
under  the  palm  trees  and  listens.  There  is  no 


139 

sound  in  the  tents  save  the  crying  of  a  child  that 
has  been  wakened  from  its  sleep.  But  suddenly 
there  is  a  shout  behind  her.  She  turns,  and  sees  a 
company  of  horsemen  near  at  hand.  She  knows 
who  they  are ;  for  at  their  head  rides  her  own  Arab 
husband,  and  by  his  side  is  Barak  the  Lightning, 
the  leader  of  her  mother's  people.  They  leap  to 
the  ground,  and  she  runs  to  meet  them. 

"  Come  with  me,"  she  says,  "  and  I  will  show  you 
the  man  whom  you  are  seeking." 

She  leads  them  into  her  own  tent.  She  lifts  the 
curtains  aside,  and  points  toward  the  floor.  There, 
still  half-covered  by  the  cloak,  lies  Sisera,  the  Lord 
of  the  Battlefield.  He  is  dead. 

"  I  was  afraid  you  would  not  come,"  she  says ; 
"  and  I  could  not  let  him  escape." 

III.     THE    SONG. 

When  the  people  heard  the  first  news  of  the  great 
battle,  they  were  very  glad,  for  they  hoped  that  the 
days  of  oppression  were  at  an  end.  And  some 
praised  Deborah  the  Bee  for  her  wisdom  and 
courage,  and  some  honored  Barak  the  Lightning 
for  his  skill  and  daring. 

"  Now  let  us  go  back  to  our  homes,  and  live  in 
peace,"  said  the  young  men. 


140 

But  the  old  men  shook  their  heads,  and  said, 
"  Nay,  for  so  long  as  Sisera  lives,  there  can  be  no 
safety  for  us." 

Then  horsemen  came  riding  from  the  plain,  and 
told  how  the  dreaded  Lord  of  the  Battlefield  had 
met  his  death  in  the  tent  of  the  Gazelle.  And  the 
people  were  wild  with  joy,  and  declared  that  the 
Gazelle  had  done  as  much  as  the  Bee  towards 
making  their  country  free;  for  those  were  wild, 
rude  times,  and  men  had  not  yet  learned  that 
treachery,  even  towards  a  foe,  is  a  hateful  and 
wicked  thing. 

And  not  long  after  that,  when  the  Children  of 
the  Prince  were  again  settled  in  their  homes,  Deb- 
orah the  Bee  made  up  a  song  of  victory;  and  she 
and  Barak  sang  it  before  the  people  when  they  met 
together  to  rejoice  at  the  harvest  feast.  Here  is 
a  part  of  that  song,  almost  as  they  sang  it.  It  is 
one  of  the  first  songs  ever  written  down. 

"  Awake,  awake,  O  Deborah  ! 
Awake,  awake  and  sing  ! 
Arise,  O  Barak  brave, 
And  lead  thy  captives  in  ! 
Brave  chiefs  to  the  battle  came, 
But  they  took  no  gain  away ; 
For  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought, 
They  fought  against  Sisera. 


"  Oh,  blessed  above  all  women 
Shall  Jael  the  Gazelle  be  ; 
Oh,  honored  indeed  is  she 
Above  all  that  dwell  in  tents. 
Sisera  asked  her  for  water, 
And  she  gave  him  milk  to  drink ; 
She  brought  him  butter  also, 
And  he  ate  from  a  lordly  dish.   , 

"  She  put  her  hand  to  the  tent  pin, 
She  held  the  workman's  hammer ; 
And  with  the  heavy  hammer 
She  smote  the  dreaded  warrior. 
She  drove  the  nail  through  his  temples 
When  she  smote  with  the  workman's  hammer. 
At  her  feet  he  bowed,  he  fell  — 
At  her  feet  he  bowed,  he  lay ; 
Where  he  bowed,  he  fell  down  dead. 

"  The  mother  of  Sisera  looked  out,  — 
She  looked  out  at  a  window,  — 
And  through  the  lattice  she  cried, 
'  Ah,  why  is  Sisera's  chariot 
So  long  in  coming  home? 
Ah,  why  run  the  wheels  so  slowly,  — 
The  wheels  of  his  chariot  of  war  ?  ' 

"  The  ladies  who  were  with  her  answered,  — 
She  had  already  answered  herself,  — 
'Is  not  the  victory  theirs? 
Are  they  not  dividing  the  spoil? 


142 

And  will  not  Sisera  bring  me 
His  share  of  fine  needlework, — 
Of  needlework  many-colored, 
And  fit  for  the  necks  of  queens  ? ' 

"  So  let  all  thine  enemies  perish, 
O  Lord,  our  fathers'  God  ! 
But  let  those  who  love  and  fear  thee 
Be  as  the  morning  sun." 


IDOL   BREAKER. 

I.     THE    IDOL. 

IN  the  town  of  Ophrah,  or  the  Fawn,  there  was 
a  man  who  took  care  of  an  idol.  This  idol  was 
made  of  wood,  and  was  shaped  somewhat  like  a 
man ;  but  it  was  ten  times  uglier  than  any  man 
you  ever  saw.  It  stood  on  a  little  platform  in  the 
midst  of  a  shady  grove,  and  the  people  of  the  town 
came  and  worshiped  it.  If  any  good  luck  hap- 
pened to  them,  they  thanked  the  idol,  and  burned 
incense,  or  sometimes  the  leg  of  a  goat,  before  it; 
for  they  fancied  that  the  ugly  image  had  done 
it  all.  But  if  any  misfortune  befell  them,  they 
said  that  the  idol  was  angry,  and  they  crawled  in 
the  dust  before  it,  and  promised  to  do  better  in 
the  future. 

"  What  a  sad  place  this  world  would  be  if  our 
idol  did  not  befriend  us ! "  they  said. 

But  the  man  who  took  care  of  this  idol  had  a 
son  who  did  not  believe  in  it. 


144 

"  How  silly,"  he  said,  "  to  think  that  a  piece  of 
painted  wood  can  either  help  or  harm  us!  It  is 
only  a  log,  and  logs  have  no  sense." 

One  night  he  went  with  ten  of  his  young  com- 
rades and  threw  the  idol  down  upon  the  ground. 
They  beat  it  with  clubs,  and  broke  off  its  arms  and 
its  nose,  and  carried  away  the  platform  where  it  had 
stood,  and  cut  down  the  grove. 

When  the  men  of  the  town  heard  what  had  been 
done,  they  made  a  great  ado  about  it. 

"  How  dare  any  one  harm  our  idol ! "  they  cried. 
"  Now,  if  we  do  not  punish  the  young  men  who  have 
abused  him,  he  will  be  angry  with  us  all,  and  cause 
some  great  misfortune  to  happen  to  us." 

So  they  took  their  clubs  and  their  swords  in  their 
hands,  and  went  up  to  the  house  of  the  man  who  had 
had  the  care  of  the  idol. 

"  Where  is  your  son  ?  "  they  said.  "  We  have 
come  out  to  slay  him  for  overturning  and  break- 
ing the  idol." 

"  My  friends,"  said  the  man,  "do  you  believe 
that  you  are  stronger  than  the  idol  ? " 

"  Oh,  no ! "  they  answered,  "  the  idol  is  ever  so 
much  stronger  than  we." 

"Very  well,  then,"  said  the  man;  "if  he  is  so 
strong,  why  can  he  not  take  care  of  himself?  It 
seems  to  me,  that,  if  he  had  been  as  mighty  as 


we  believed  him  to  be,  he  would  not  have  suffered 
a  few  young  men  to  beat  him." 

"  It  does  seem  so,"  said  his  neighbors. 

And  while  they  were  talking  together,  the  young 
man  came  boldly  before  them,  and  with  his  ax  broke 
the  fallen  idol  into  a  thousand  pieces. 

"  Now,  I  should  like  to  see  him  harm  any  of  us !  " 
he  cried. 

"  How  foolish  we  were  to  put  our  trust  in  that 
kind  of  an  idol ! "  said  the  men ;  and  they  went 
slowly  back  to  their  homes. 

And  after  that,  the  young  man  who  had  broken 
the  idol  was  called  Jerub-baal,  a  name  which  in  his 
language  meant  Idol  Breaker. 

IL     THE    ANGEL. 

The  very  next  year  a  great  army  of  Arabs  in- 
vaded the  country.  They  came  with  their  camels 
and  their  tents,  and  there  were  so  many  of  them 
that  they  could  not  be  counted.  The  Children 
of  the  Prince  were  too  weak  to  stand  against 
them.  They  were  beaten  in  every  fight.  The 
Arabs  took  their  towns,  and  burned  their  houses 
to  the  ground,  and  robbed  their  fields  and  their 
orchards,  and  killed  their  young  men.  There 
was  no  peace  nor  safety  in  all  the  land. 

STO.    OF  THE   EAST — IO 


146 

"  If  we  only  had  our  idol,"  said  some  of  the 
people,  "  he  would  help  us  against  our  cruel  foes." 

"  We  doubt  it,"  said  others;  "for  he  was  not 
even  strong  enough  to  withstand  the  young  man 
who  broke  him  in  pieces." 

And  so  things  went  on  from  bad  to  worse  for 
seven  years.  The  Children  of  the  Prince  could 
hardly  show  their  faces  for  fear  of  the  Arabs. 
They  lived  in  dens  which  they  made  for  them- 
selves among  the  mountains,  or  in  caves,  or  in 
strong  places  on  the  hilltops ;  and  they  dared 
not  reap  their  grain  nor  gather  their  fruit,  for 
then  their  cruel  masters  would  swoop  down  upon 
them  and  take  everything  away.  In  all  the  land 
there  was  not  a  man  who  was  brave  enough  to 
lead  them  against  their  foes. 

One  day  in  midsummer  the  young  man  whom 
they  called  Idol  Breaker  ventured  out  of  his  hid- 
ing place  in  the  mountains,  and  went  down  to  his 
father's  farm  to  see  how  things  were  getting  along. 
The  Arabs  had  been  there.  They  had  pillaged 
the  house,  and  had  driven  away  the  cattle.  But 
they  had  not  touched  the  growing  grain,  and 
now  the  wheat  in  the  fields  was  yellow  and  ripe. 

Idol  Breaker  thought  how  nice  it  would  be  if 
he  could  carry  a  sackful  of  fine  new  wheat 
to  his  famishing  father  and  mother  up  in  the 


147 

mountains.  He  looked  around  him.  There  were 
no  Arabs  to  be  seen.  He  would  harvest  some  of 
the  grain. 

He  found  the  little  sickle  which  belonged  to 
his  father,  and  ran  into  the  field.  Soon  he  came 
back  with  as  many  sheaves  of  wheat  as  he  could 
carry.  He  would  thresh  out  the  grains  from 
these,  and  then  he  would  go  back  and  reap  more. 
But  what  if  the  Arabs  should  see  him?  They 
would  let  him  alone  until  he  had  finished  his 
day's  work,  and  then  they  would  come  and  take 
his  grain  away  from  him.  He  dared  not  use  the 
old  threshing  floor,  for  it  was  close  by  the  road- 
side, and  they  would  be  sure  to  see  him  there  ; 
he  dared  not  go  into  the  house,  for  the  first  band 
of  robbers  who  came  that  way  would  stop  and 
find  him  while  he  was  at  work.  But  there  was 
the  old  wine  press  which  had  not  been  used  for 
three  years  or  more.  It  stood  behind  some  trees, 
and  the  weeds  and  wild  vines  had  grown  up  around 
it  until  it  was  hidden  from  sight.  It  was  just  the 
place  in  which  to  thresh  his  wheat,  for  nobody 
would  think  of  looking  there. 

He  carried  the  sheaves  into  the  place,  and -began 
to  tramp  upon  them  with  his  feet  in  order  to  knock 
out  the  grains.  It  was  slow,  hard  work;  for  he 
did  not  dare  to  beat  the  straw  with  a  flail,  lest  he 


148 

should  be  heard.  All  day  long  he  was  busy,  and 
in  the  evening  he  was  glad  to  find  that,  chaff  and 
all,  there  was  a  bushel  of  wheat  on  the  floor  of 
the  wine  press.  He  was  about  to  put  it  into  a 
sack,  when  he  happened  to  look  towards  the  house. 
Who  was  it  that  he  saw  sitting  in  the  shade  of 
the  great  oak  tree  close  by? 

He  knew  that  it  was  not  an  Arab,  and  so  he  was 
not  afraid.  But  he  had  never  before  seen  so  hand- 
some a  man,  and  he  wondered  why  he  should  be 
sitting  there,  all  alone  and  so  still.  While  he  was 
looking  and  wondering,  the  stranger  came  towards 
him,  and  spoke. 

"  Hail,  mighty  man  of  valor ! "  he  said.  "  The 
Lord  is  with  you." 

"  If  the  Lord  is  with  us,"  said  Idol  Breaker  in  a 
surly  tone,  "  why  does  he  let  the  Arabs  deal  with  us 
in  this  way  ?  " 

The  stranger  did  not  answer  his  question,  but 
said,  "  Go  in  your  might,  and  set  your  people 
free ! " 

"How  can  I  set  them  free?"  said  Idol  Breaker. 
"  My  father  is  a  poor  man,  and  I  am  the  youngest 
of  all  his  sons." 

"  Go  forth  in  your  might,  and  I  will  help  you," 
said  the  stranger. 

Then  the  thought  came  into  Idol  Breaker's  mind 


149 

that  this  stranger  must  be  an  angel,  and  yet  he  was 
not  quite  sure  that  it  was  not  all  a  dream ;  and  he 
half  expected  to  wake  up  and  find  it  so. 

"  Wait  here  a  few  minutes,"  he  said  to  the 
stranger;  and  he  ran  to  the  house. 

There  was  a  young  kid  there  which  the  Arabs 
had  not  taken ;  and  this  he  killed  and  dressed,  and 
laid  upon  some  coals  to  broil.  Then  he  found  a  few 
handfuls  of  meal  in  a  chest ;  and  of  this  he  made 
some  cakes,  which  he  put  into  the  ashes  to  bake. 

"  I  will  see  whether  he  will  eat  of  this  food,"  said 
Idol  Breaker,  "for  angels  do  not  eat; "  and  he  kept 
looking  out  every  minute  to  see  that  the  stranger 
did  not  go  away. 

In  a  little  while  the  cooking  was  finished.  The 
young  man  made  some  broth  in  a  pot,  and  put  the 
meat  and  the  cakes  in  a  basket.  Then  he  carried 
them  out  and  offered  them  to  the  stranger. 

"  Lay  the  meat  and  the  cakes  on  this  rock,"  said 
the  stranger,  "  and  then  pour  out  the  broth." 

The  young  man  did  so.  Then  the  stranger  stood 
up,  and  touched  the  food  with  his  staff ;  and  at  once 
a  great  smoke  arose,  and  then  a  broad  flame  of  fire. 
Idol  Breaker  was  so  filled  with  wonder,  that  he  did 
not  know  what  to  do ;  but,  when  he  looked  around 
for  the  stranger,  he  was  gone. 

"  It  was   an   angel,  it  was  an  angel !  "  cried    the 


(150)  AT  ONCE  A  GREAT  SMOKE  AR.OS&. 


young  man.     "And  now  I  shall  die,  for  no  man  can 
see  an  angel  and  live." 

Then  he  heard  a  voice,  saying,  "  Fear  not.     You 
shall  not  die  until  you  have  set  your  people  free." 


III.    THE    CAMP. 

After  that,  the  young  man  could  think  of  nothing 
but  of  the  angel,  and  of  plans  for  setting  his  people 
free.  He  went  from  one  place  to  another,  calling 
upon  the  men  to  arm  themselves  and  follow  him; 
and  it  was  not  long  until  he  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  an  army  of  thirty-two  thousand  men.  Still 
he  was  afraid  that  he  might  fail,  and  so  he  did  not 
dare  to  lead  his  men  into  open  battle  with  the 
Arabs. 

"  If  I  could  only  have  a  sure  sign  !  "  he  said. 
"  Now  I  will  put  a  fleece  of  wool  on  the  ground  ; 
and  in  the  morning  if  the  wool  is  wet  with  dew,  and 
everything  around  it  quite  dry,  I  shall  know  that 
the  Arabs  will  be  beaten,  and  my  people  will  be 
saved." 

And  it  happened  just  as  he  wished  ;  for  he  arose 
early  in  the  morning,  and  wrung  a  bowlful  of  water 
out  of  the  fleece,  while  everything  around  it  was  dry. 

But  even  then  he  was  not  satisfied. 

"  It  may  have  been  an   accident,"  he  said.     "  I 


152 

cannot  risk  a  battle  until  I  have  another  sign. 
To-night  I  will  lay  the  fleece  down  in  the  same 
place,  and  in  the  morning,  if  it  is  dry,  while  every- 
thing else  around  it  is  wet,  then  I  shall  know  that 
my  people  will  be  saved." 

And  it  happened  just  so;  for  in  the  morning  the 
fleece  was  dry,  but  there  was  dew  on  all  the  ground. 
And  now  he  was  no  longer  afraid. 

Just  as  the  sun  was  rising  over  the  hills,  he  blew 
his  trumpet ;  and  his  army  arose  at  the  call,  and 
followed  him  down  into  the  valley,  where  there  was 
a  famous  well  and  much  water.  And  the  army  of 
the  Arabs,  a  great  host  with  camels  and  horses, 
was  encamped  not  far  away. 

"  Now,"  said  Idol  Breaker  to  his  men,  "  you  see 
the  foes  whom  we  have  come  out  to  meet,  and  you 
must  know  that  the  battle  will  be  a  hard  one.  If 
any  of  you  are  afraid,  I  will  give  you  leave  to  turn 
about  right  now,  and  go  back  to  your  homes." 

Twenty-two  thousand  men  left  him  at  once,  and 
with  glad  hearts  hurried  back  to  their  safe  caves 
and  rock-built  strongholds  among  the  hills. 

"  Never  mind,"  said  Idol  Breaker  to  the  brave 
ten  thousand  who  staid  with  him.  "  There  are  still 
enough  of  us  to  drive  the  Arabs  out  of  the  land." 
And  he  led  them  far  up  on  the  hillside,  where  they 
were  well  hidden  among  the  trees,  and  where  they 


153 

could  overlook  the  camp  of  their  foes.  There  they 
staid  quietly  all  day  long.  The  sun  shone  hot,  and 
the  air  was  sultry;  and  the  men  suffered  from  thirst, 
for  there  was  no  water  to  drink.  At  the  foot  of  the 
hill  there  was  a  brook;  but  Idol  Breaker  would  not 
allow  any  one  to  go  down  for  a  drink,  lest  the  Arabs 
might  see  them. 

"  Wait  until  after  the  sun  has  set,"  he  said. 

When  evening  came,  and  the  camp  of  the  Arabs 
could  not  be  seen  in  the  dusky  twilight,  he  led  his 
men  to  the  brook.  They  were  so  thirsty  that  most 
of  them  forgot  everything  but  the  water.  They 
threw  themselves  down  upon  the  bank,  and  dipped 
their  lips  into  the  cool  stream.  But  there  were 
three  hundred  who  kept  their  wits  about  them. 
They  were  eager  to  fight,  and  in  a  hurry  to  make 
a  dash  upon  the  camp  of  the  Arabs;  and  so  they 
dipped  the  water  up  hastily  with  their  hands,  and 
drank  as  they  ran. 

"  You  are  the  men  for  me ! "  cried  Idol  Breaker. 
"  Let  all  the  others  go  back  to  their  places  on  the 
hillside." 

Then  he  led  the  three  hundred  men  a  little  farther 
down  the  valley,  and  waited  there'  until  far  in  the 
night.  When  it  was  quite  dark,  and  everything  was 
still,  he  took  one  of  his  trusty  servants  and  went 
over  to  the  Arab  camp.  There  were  the  tents  and 


154 

the  camels  and -the  men, —  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  them,  —  covering  the  whole  plain.  Idol 
Breaker  crept  close  to  a  tent,  and  listened.  A  man 
was  telling  his  dream  to  his  comrade. 

"  What  do  you  think  it,  means?"  he  said.  "I 
dreamed  that  a  cake  of  barley  bread  came  rolling 
down  the  hill,  and  tumbled  into  our  camp,  and  broke 
down  our  tents,  and  put  all  our  men  to  flight." 

"It  is  a  bad  dream,"  said  the  other  man;  "and 
it  means  that  the  sword  of  the  Idol  Breaker  and 
of  the  God  whom  he  worships  will  utterly  over- 
throw the  army  of  the  Arabs,  and  put  us  all  to 
flight." 

When  Idol  Breaker  heard  these  words,  he  was 
glad,  and  fell  down  upon  his  knees  and  gave  thanks 
to  Heaven  for  this  sign  which  had  been  sent  him. 
Then  he  arose,  and  hurried  back  to  the  place  where 
his  three  hundred  men  were  waiting. 

"  Now  do  as  I  bid  you,  and  we  shall  have  a  great 
victory,"  he  said. 

And  he  put  into  the  left  hand  of  each  man  a 
deep  pitcher  with  a  lighted  candle  inside  of  it, 
and  into  each  one's  right  hand  he  put  a  trumpet. 

"  How  shall  we  fight  with  these  things  ? "  said 
some. 

"Only  follow  me,  and  do  as  I  do,"  said  Idol 
Breaker. 


155 


IV.     THE     FLIGHT. 

Idol  Breaker  divided  his  little  company  into  three 
bands  of  one  hundred  men  each,  and  showed  them 
how  they  should  go  down  to  the  Arabs'  camp.  One 
of  the  bands  was  to  go  around  to  the  right,  another 
to  the  left,  and  a  third  was  to  creep  up  to  the  center ; 
and  it  was  all  to  be  done  so  quietly  that  not  even 
the  dogs  could  hear  them. 

Idol  Breaker  himself  led  the  middle  band,  and  it 
was  about  midnight  when  they  reached  the  line  of 
the  camp.  There  was  not  an  Arab  stirring.  Every 
one  was  in  his  own  tent,  fast  asleep.  There  was  not 
a  sound  to  be  heard.  Then  all  at  once  Idol  Breaker 
dashed  his  pitcher  against  a  stone,  and  blew  his 
trumpet,  and  shouted,  — 

"  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon !  " 
And  every  man  of  the  three  hundred  did  the  same 
thing ;  and  the  light  of  the  three  hundred  candles 
burst  out  in  a  moment  from  the  darkness;  and 
every  man  rushed  with  clattering  speed  right  into 
the  camp,  shouting,  — 

"  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon !  " 

The    Arabs    awoke.       They  sprang  up  in  great 

alarm.    They  saw  the  three  hundred  twinkling  lights, 

and  heard  the  three  hundred  blaring  trumpets.     In 

their  fright  they  fancied  that  a  great  army  had  come 


1 56 

down  upon  their  camp.  No  man  thought  of  anything 
but  how  he  should  save  himself.  Some  seized  their 
swords  and  ran  wildly  through  the  camp,  striking  at 
every  one  they  met.  Some  rushed  half  awake  from 
their  tents,  and  fled  into  the  open  plain.  They 
fought  among  themselves,  not  knowing  friend  from 
foe.  Soon  the  whole  great  army  had  betaken 
itself  to  flight 

Idol  Breaker  and  his  three  hundred  men  followed 
close  behind,  swinging  their  burning  candles,  and 
blowing  their  trumpets,  and  shouting, — 
"  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  !  " 
Then  the  rest  of  the  ten  thousand  men  who  had 
been  left  on  the  hilltop  came  hurrying  down,  and 
joined  in  the  pursuit.  They  overtook  the  Arabs, 
and  with  their  swords  and  spears  made  great  havoc 
among  them.  The  din  of  battle  and  of  flight  moved 
onward  across  the  plain.  Morning  came,  and  still 
the  Arabs  fled ;  and  still  their  pursuers  kept  up  the 
chase,  shouting,  — 

"  The  sword  of  the  Lord  and  of  Gideon  ! " 
Towards  midday,  Idol  Breaker  and  his  men  came 
to  a  walled  town  called  the  Town  of  Tents,  which 
belonged  to  their  own  kinsmen,  —  people  who  called 
themselves  Children  of  the  Prince. 

"  Open    your    gates,    O    men    of    the    Town    of 
Tents  !  "  said  Idol  Breaker.    "  We  would  fain  go  in 


157 

and  rest  ourselves  a  little  while,  and  be  refreshed; 
for  we  have  followed  our  foes  for  a  long  time,  and 
we  are  weary  and  faint." 

But  the  people  of  the  town  would  not  open  their 
gates,  nor  would  they  give  the  hungry  men  any 
food.  They  stood  on  their  walls,  and  taunted  Idol 
Breaker  and  those  who  were  with  him. 

"  Why  should  we  do  these  things  for  you  ?  "  they 
said.  "  You  have  not  yet  caught  the  Arab  chiefs ; 
and  if  they  should  turn  upon  you,  what  would 
become  of  you  ?  " 

"  Very  well/'  said  Idol  Breaker.  "  Wait  until  I 
have  caught  them,  and  then  I  will  tear  your  flesh 
with  thorns  and  briers." 

And  then,  hungry  and  tired  as  they  were,  Idol 
Breaker  and   his  men   went   on    after   the   fleeing 
Arabs.     By  and  by  they  came   to   a  place   where 
there  was  a  strong  tower  of  stone,  called  Prospect* 
Tower. 

"  Open  your  gates,  O  kinsmen ! "  said  Idol  Breaker 
to  the  armed  men  in  the  tower,  "  and  let  us  come 
in  and  rest  a  little  while ;  and  give  us  water  to 
drink  and  some  food  to  eat,  that  so  we  may  be 
refreshed,  and  go  on,  and  drive  our  enemies  out  of 
the  land." 

But  the  men  in  the  tower  said,  "  This  is  no  fight 
of  ours.  Why  should  we  feed  you  ?  " 


I58 

"  Wait  till  I  come  again,"  said  Idol  Breaker,  "and 
I  will  break  down  the  walls  of  your  tower." 

All  day  long  the  Arabs  fled,  3jid  all  day  long 
Idol  Breaker  and  his  men  followed  after.  At  night 
they  rested  by  a  brook,  and  on  the  morrow  they 
renewed  the  chase.  Just  how  long  they  kept  this 
up,  I  do  not  know;  but  they  did  not  turn  back 
until  the  great  host  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  men  had  been  scattered  and  put  to  the 
sword,  and  the  two  Arab  chiefs  had  been  caught 
and  bound  with  chains. 

Then  early  one  morning  before  the  sun  was 
up,  Idol  Breaker  led  his  little  army  back  by  way 
of  the  Town  of  Tents.  And  when  he  had  forced 
the  gates  open,  and  led  his  men  into  the  place, 
he  took  seventy-seven  of  the  chief  men  of  the 
town,  and  beat  them  with  thorns  and  briers,  as 
he  had  promised  to  do.  As  for  Prospect  Tower, 
he  broke  down  its  walls,  and  killed  the  men  who 
were  within,  so  great  was  his  anger  against  them. 

After  this  the  Children  of  the  Prince  wanted 
Idol  Breaker  to  be  their  king,  because  he  had  freed 
their  country  from  the  cruel  Arabs.  But  he  said, 
"  No,  I  will  not  be  your  king.  The  God  of  our 
fathers,  he  is  your  king." 

Then  he  asked  them  if  they  would  give  him  all 
the  earrings  that  they  had  taken  from  the  Arabs. 


1 59 

"  We  will  give  them  willingly,"  they  said. 

So  they  spread  a  cloth  upon  the  ground,  and 
every  one  threw  down  upon  it  the  jewels  which 
he  had  taken,  —  the  golden  earrings  and  nose- 
rings, and  the  chains  which  had  hung  upon  the 
camels'  necks,  and  the  fine  purple  robes  which 
the  chiefs  had  worn.  And  Idol  Breaker  melted 
the  gold,  and  made  a  golden  image,  and  set  it 
up  in  the  Town  of  the  Fawn,  where  the  wooden 
idol  had  stood  which  he  had  broken  in  pieces 
when  he  was  a  young  man. 

"  Now  we  shall  have  peace,"  said  the  people ; 
and  they  came  up  from  all  the  country  round, 
and  fell  down  upon  their  knees  before  the  golden 
image,  and  thanked  it  for  giving  them  the  victory 
over  their  enemies,  and  setting  their  country  free. 

"  What  a  sad  place  this  world  was  when  we 
had  no  idol  to  befriend  us !  "  they  said.  "  If  our 
first  idol  had  not  been  so  badly  treated,  the  Arabs 
would  not  have  come  into  the  land  at  all.  But 
now  we  shall  make  amends  for  our  wrongdoing, 
and  this  golden  image  will  always  protect  us." 

And  so  Gideon  —  for  that  was  his  real  name  — 
was  no  longer  called  Idol  Breaker ;  for  he  had  now 
become  an  idol  maker,  and  had  given  the  people 
a  golden  image  in  place  of  the  ugly  wooden  one 
which  he  had  destroyed. 


THE  STORY  OF  SPLENDID  SUN. 

I.     THE    WANDERERS. 

FROM  very  early  times  there  had  lived  in  certain 
parts  of  the  Promised  Land  a  rude  people  who  had 
once  had  no  settled  homes,  but  had  strolled  about 
from  place  to  place  as  their  fancy  pleased  them. 
On  account  of  their  roving  habits  they  had  been 
given  the  name  of  Wanderers,  or,  in  the  language 
of  the  land,  Philistines ;  and,  even  after  they  had 
begun  to  build  cities  and  have  houses  and  gardens 
of  their  own,  their  neighbors  still  called  them  by 
that  name. 

"This  is  the  fairest  land  in  all  the  world,"  they 
said  to  themselves.  "  Let  us  stop  wandering  about, 
and  dwell  here  forever." 

Many  years  passed  by,  and  then  there  came  into 
the  same  country  a  great  host  of  people  who  called 
themselves  Israelites,  or  the  Children  of  the  Prince, 
and  who  said  that  they  were  from  the  Land  of  the 
Nile. 

160 


• 

TJK:  ':TY 


161 

"  What  are  you  doing  in  our  land  ? "  said  the 
Children  of  the  Prince  to  the  Wanderers. 

"  That  is  a  strange  question,"  said  the  Wan- 
derers ;  "  for,  lo !  our  fathers  before  us  dwelt  here, 
and  planted  these  vineyards,  and  built  these  towns ; 
and  we  ourselves  were  born  here,  and  these  have 
been  our  homes  all  our  lives.  By  what  right,  then, 
do  you  call  this  land  yours?  We  might  better  ask, 
'  What  are  you  doing  in  our  land  ? ' : 

"  Five  hundred  years  ago,"  answered  the  Children 
of  the  Prince,  "  our  great  ancestor  Abraham,  the 
Father  of  Nations,  abode  in  this  country ;  and  the 
God  whom  he  worshiped  promised  him  that  all 
these  green  hills  and  rich  valleys  and  grassy  plains 
should  belong  to  his  children,  and  his  children's 
children,  forever.  Now,  we  are  his  children's  chil- 
dren, and  according  to  God's  promise  this  land  is 
ours.  So  move  out  at  once,  and  let  us  have  that 
which  is  our  own.'5 

"  Nay,"  said  the  Wanderers,  "  we  will  not  move 
out,  for  the  country  is  our  own." 

Then  the  Children  of  the  Prince  fought  with 
the  Wanderers,  and  gained  many  battles,  and  took 
their  fairest  cities,  and  made  themselves  houses 
in  the  land.  And  in  the  course  of  time  the  Wan- 
derers had  only  a  few  towns  that  they  could  call 
their  own ;  and  they  lived  mostly  among  the 

STO.  OF  THE   EAST  —  1 1 


162 

mountains,  or  in  the  western  part  of  the  land  not 
far  from  the  Great  Sea. 

But  the  Children  of  the  Prince,  when  they  found 
themselves  settled  at  last  in  the  Promised  Land, 
did  many  unwise  things.  They  forgot  that  it  was 
the  God  of  their  great  father  Abraham  who  had 
blessed  them  and  given  them  their  pleasant  homes ; 
and  they  no  longer  worshiped  him,  but  made 
themselves  idols  of  wood  and  stone  and  metal,  and 
said,  — 

"  How  good  our  idols  are !  We  could  never 
have  prospered  but  for  them.  Let  us  worship 
them,  and  thank  them  for  what  they  have  done 
for  us." 

But  those  senseless  images  could  not  help  them 
against  their  enemies;  and  when  the  God  of  their 
fathers  had  withdrawn  his  aid,  what  could  they  do  ? 
The  Wanderers  again  made  war  upon  them;  and 
now  the  Children  of  the  Prince  lost  every  battle. 
The  Wanderers  won  back  their  towns  and  many 
of  their  choicest  places  in  the  West. 

"  What  are  you  doing  in  our  land  ?  "  they  said  to 
the  Children  of  the  Prince. 

Very  soon  they  were  the  masters  of  the  country 
once  more ;  and  they  treated  the  Children  of  the 
Prince  very  cruelly,  and  oppressed  them  for  many 
years,  and  gave  them  but  little  peace. 


"  We  shall  see  whose  land  this  is,"  they  said. 

Then  the  Children  of  the  Prince  began  to  remem- 
ber the  God  of  their  fathers,  and  they  cried  to  him 
for  help. 

II.     THE    STRANGER. 

In  the  hill  country  not  very  far  from  the  sea- 
coast  there  lived  a  farmer  and  his  wife  who  were 
proud  of  being  called  Israelites,  or  Children  of  the 
Prince.  They  often  talked  of  their  great  ancestors 
who  had  lived  in  times  now  long  past,  —  of  Abraham, 
the  Father  of  Nations ;  of  Israel,  the  Prince,  who 
had  lived  in  the  Land  of  the  Nile;  and  of  Moses,  the 
Lawgiver,  who  had  led  their  people  to  the  Promised 
Land.  Then,  when  they  thought  of  how  their 
kinsmen  were  being  oppressed  and  enslaved  by  the 
Wanderers,  their  hearts  were  filled  with  grief ;  and 
they  thought,  that,  if  they  only  had  a  son,  they 
would  train  him  up  to  be  a  hero,  so  that  he  would 
by  and  by  set  his  countrymen  free:  for  among 
all  the  Children  of  the  Prince  there  was  now 
not  a  man  that  dared  lift  his  hand  against  their 
oppressors. 

One  day  when  the  farmer's  wife  was  alone,  a 
stranger  stopped  at  the  gate  to  talk  with  her.  He 
told  her  that  a  son  would  soon  be  born  to  her,  and 
that  this  son  would  grow  up  to  be  a  mighty  hero, 


1 64 

and  would  begin  to  free  the  land  from  the  race 
of  strangers  that  had  held  it  so  long. 

"  But  the  child  must  be  brought  up  with  great 
care,"  he  said.  "You  must  never  cut  his  hair;  and 
he  must  never  taste  of  wine,  or  of  any  strong  drink, 
or  of  any  unclean  thing." 

The  woman  was  very  glad ;  and,  when  her  husband 
came  home  in  the  evening,  she  told  him  all  about  it. 

"  Why  didn't  you  have  the  stranger  stay  all  night 
with  us,  so  that  I  might  ask  him  how  we  shall  teach 
the  child?"  he  said. 

"  Ah !  he  was  gone  before  I  could  speak,"  she 
answered. 

The  next  day,  as  the  woman  was  working  in  the 
field,  she  saw  the  stranger  passing  by,  and  she  ran 
and  told  her  husband.  The  man  hurried  out  quickly, 
and  met  the  stranger  in  the  road. 

"  Are  you  the  man  who  spoke  to  my  wife  at  the 
gate  yesterday  ?  "  he  said. 

"  I  am,"  said  the  stranger. 

"  Then  come  in  and  teach  us  how  we  shall  train 
up  the  son  that  is  to  be  born  to  us,"  said  the  good 
farmer;  "for  we  would  that  he  should  grow  up  to 
be  the  deliverer  of  his  country." 

"  I  have  already  told  your  wife  what  must  be 
done,"  said  the  stranger.  "  His  hair  must  never  be 
shorn,  and  no  wine  nor  strong  drink  nor  unclean 


165 

thing  must  ever  touch  his  lips.  There  is  nothing 
more  to  say." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  the  farmer,  "you  must  come  in 
and  eat  with  us.  I  am  just  going  to  kill  a  fat  kid, 
and  if  you  will  wait  till  I  have  dressed  it,  and  my 
wife  has  roasted  it,  we  will  have  a  good  feast." 

"  No,  indeed ! "  said  the  stranger,  "  I  will  not  eat 
a  mouthful.  But  it  seems  to  me,  that,  instead  of  eat- 
ing the  kid,  you  ought  to  give  it  as  a  thank  offering 
to  Heaven  for  the  good  news  which  I  have  brought 
you." 

"  That  is  what  I  will  do,"  said  the  farmer.  "  But 
since  you  will  not  eat  with  us,  pray  tell  us  your 
name,  so  that  when  the  boy  has  grown  up,  and  has 
become  a  great  hero,  we  may  remember  you,  and 
give  you  honor." 

"  My  name  is  a  secret,"  said  the  stranger;  "and  I 
will  not  tell  it  to  you." 

Then  the  farmer  took  the  kid  and  killed  it ;  and 
after  that,  he  laid  some  dry  wood  on  a  flat  rock 
before  his  house.  And  he  put  the  kid  on  the  top 
of  the  wood,  and  then  set  fire  to  it.  He  thought 
that  when  the  smell  of  the  burning  meat  went  up  to 
the  clouds  and  the  sky,  God  would  be  pleased  with 
his  thank  offering.  The  smoke  rose  thick  and  black 
from  the  kindling  wood,  and  the  farmer  and  his 
wife  stood  a  little  way  off  to  watch  it;  but  the 


i66 

stranger  staid  close  to  the  rock.  Soon  the  flames 
burst  out,  and  the  fat  of  the  kid  took  fire,  and  blazed 
up  high.  Then  the  farmer  and  his  wife  noticed  the 
stranger,  how  bright  and  shining  was  his  face,  and 
how  his  clothing  glittered  like  the  sun.  And  the 
flames  shot  up  very  high,  —  so  high  that  the  man 
and  woman  said  that  they  reached  heaven  itself; 
but  when  they  looked  down  at  the  rock  again,,  the 
stranger  was  nowhere  to  be  seen. 

"  He  was  an  angel !  "  cried  the  woman. 

"  Yes,  I  know  he  was  an  angel,"  said  the  man. 

"  And  he  went  right  up  in  the  flames  to  the  sky," 
said  the  woman. 

"  Yes,  that  is  where  he  went,"  said  the  man ;  "  and 
now  we  shall  surely  die,  for  nobody  can  see  an 
angel  and  live." 

"  Tut,  tut !  "  said  the  woman.  "  Didn't  you  see 
how  our  thank  offering  was  carried  to  the  sky  ?  I 
guess  we  shall  not  die  very  soon  after  that.  And 
then,  what  was  the  use  of  the  angel  coming  and 
telling  us  all  those  things,  if  we  are  not  going  to 
live  to  see  them  come  true  ? " 

III.     THE    RIDDLE. 

Not  very  long  after  that,  a  little  boy  was  born  in 
the  farmer's  house ;  and  his  face  was  so  fair,  and  his 
eyes  were  so  bright,  that  they  named  him  Splendid 


i67 

Sun,  or,  in  their  own  language,  Samson.  He  was  a 
very  strong,  hearty  child,  and  he  grew  fast,  and  was 
the  delight  and  wonder  of  the  household.  But  his 
mother  never  allowed  a  hair  of  his  head  to  be  shorn, 
or  any  wine  or  strong  drink  or  unclean  food  to  touch 
his  lips.  As  soon  as  he  was  old  enough  to  do  so,  he 
helped  with  the  work  in  the  fields ;  and  his  father 
taught  him  about  the  cruel  wrongs  which  his  people 
had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  their  rulers. 

When  he  was  only  a  lad,  Splendid  Sun  aston- 
ished everybody  with  his  great  strength.  Once  he 
went  down  into  the  camp  of  the  Wanderers  near 
the  town  of  Dan,  and  wrestled  with  the  giant  sol- 
diers there ;  and  after  that  he  was  the  talk  of  the 
whole  country. 

One  day,  when  Splendid  Sun  had  become  a  tall 
young  man,  he  made  a  visit  to  the  town  of  Tim- 
nath  among  the  hills,  and  became  acquainted  with 
a  number  of  young  Wanderers  there.  They  seemed 
to  him  to  be  pretty  good  fellows ;  and,  as  they 
praised  him  and  feasted  him  and  treated  him 
royally,  he  began  to  think  that  they  were  even 
better  than  his  poor  oppressed  countrymen.  Then 
he  met  a  beautiful  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  rich 
Wanderer;  and  she  promised  to  marry  him  if  their 
parents  could  agree  as  to  her  price.  For  wives 
had  to  be  bought  in  those  times. 


i68 

Splendid  Sun  hastened  home,  and  told  his  father 
and  mother  what  a  fine  time  he  had  had  in  the  town, 
and  how  the  pretty  Wanderer  maiden  had  agreed 
to  be  his  wife. 

"  I  never  saw  a  woman  that  pleased  me  so  much," 
he  said.  "  Her  father  wants  a  high  price  for  her, 
but  she  is  well  worth  it.  Get  her  for  me." 

His  father  and  mother  were  not  well  pleased,  and 
they  said,  "  Is  there  no  maiden  among  the  daugh- 
ters of  our  kinsmen  or  among  all  our  own  people, 
that  you  must  needs  go  and  choose  a  Wanderer 
for  a  wife  ?  " 

But  Splendid  Sun  would  not  listen.  He  did 
nothing  every  day  but  talk  of  the  beautiful  maiden ; 
and  he  kept  saying  to  his  father,  "  Get  her  for  me, 
for  she  pleases  me." 

At  last  he  persuaded  his  father  and  mother  to  go 
up  to  the  town  with  him  and  see  the  maiden  for 
themselves.  They  went  up  on  foot,  through  the 
wild  hill  country,  and  came  at  last  to  a  place  just 
outside  of  Timnath  where  there  were  great  thickets 
of  wild  grapevines.  Splendid  Sun  was  in  great 
haste.  He  walked  very  fast,  and  left  his  parents 
far  behind.  All  at  once  a  lion  sprang  out  from 
among  the  tangled  vines,  and  rushed  furiously  upon 
the  young  man.  He  had  nothing  in  his  hand  to 
defend  himself  with;  but  he  seized  the  beast,  and 


(i69) 


pulled  its  jaws  apart,  and  tore  it  in  pieces,  as  easily 
as  other  men  would  have  torn  a  rabbit.  Then 
he  tossed  the  body  among  the  bushes,  and  went 
on  as  though  nothing  had  happened.  He  did  not 
even  tell  his  father  and  mother  about  it. 

When  they  reached  the  town  and  saw  the  maiden, 
they  were  well  pleased  with  her,  for  she  was  not 
only  fair,  but  lovable.  Splendid  Sun's  father  agreed 
to  get  her  for  him,  and  a  day  was  set  for  the  wed- 
ding. But  his  mother  grieved  because  he  had  not 
found  a  maiden  among  his  own  people;  for,  she 
thought,  how  now  would  he  become  a  hero,  and 
deliver  his  land  from  oppression  ? 

A  few  weeks  afterwards  the  young  man  and  his 
parents  went  up  to  Timnath  again;  and  this  time 
there  was  to  be  a  wedding  feast,  and  they  would 
take  the  maiden  back  with  them.  As  they  were 
passing  through  the  grapevine  thicket,  Splendid 
Sun  turned  aside  to  see  what  had  become  of  the 
dead  lion.  There  was  nothing  left  of  it  but  its  skele- 
ton ;  but  a  swarm  of  bees  had  built  a  nest  among 
the  bones,  and  in  it  was  a  big  piece  of  honeycomb 
full  of  honey.  He  took  the  honeycomb  in  his  hand 
and  went  on,  eating  as  he  walked.  When  he  over- 
took his  parents,  he  gave  them  a  part  of  it,  but  he 
said  nothing  about  the  place  where  he  had  found  it. 

Splendid  Sun  made  a  great  feast  in  the  town,  for 


which  his  father  had  to  pay,  and  he  invited  all  the 
young  Wanderers  whom  he  knew.  That  was  the 
way  which  young  men  did  in  that  country.  The 
feast  was  to  last  seven  days,  and  then  the  bride  was 
to  be  given  to  her  husband.  Thirty  gay  young  fel- 
lows sat  at  the  table  with  Splendid  Sun ;  and  they 
sang  songs  and  told  stories,  and  amused  themselves 
in  many  ways.  But  not  a  drop  of  wine  or  of  strong 
drink  did  Splendid  Sun  taste;  and  as  he  stood  before 
his  guests,  with  his  long  hair  falling  in  seven  plaits 
down  his  back,  all  the  Wanderers  admired  him. 

"  Now,"  said  he  to  the  thirty  young  men,  "  I  will 
tell  you  a  riddle.  If  you  can  guess  it  within  the 
seven  days  of  the  feast,  I  will  give  you  thirty  sheets 
and  thirty  fine  suits  of  clothing.  If  you  cannot 
guess  it,  then  you  shall  give  me  thirty  sheets  and 
thirty  fine  suits  of  clothing." 

"  Agreed !  "  cried  the  young  men.  "  Let  us 
hear  it ! " 

Then  he  gave  them  this  riddle :  "  Out  of  the 
eater  came  forth  meat,  and  out  of  the  strong  came 
forth  sweetness? 

For  three  days  they  tried  to  guess  the  answer, 
but  they  could  not  think  of  anything  that  seemed  to 
be  right.  Then  they  went  to  the  young  bride,  and 
said,  "  Find  out  this  riddle  for  us.  If  you  don't, 
we'll  burn  your  father's  house,  and  you  too,  with 


172 

fire.  Do  you  take  us  for  fools,  that  we  should  let 
this  underling  rob  us  in  this  way  ? "  For  the  suits 
of  clothing  were  very  costly. 

Then  the  maiden  wept  bitterly,  and  Splendid  Sun 
was  much  troubled,  and  asked  her  what  was  the 
matter. 

"  You  are  a  cruel  fellow/'  she  said ;  "  and  you  do 
not  love  me  at  all.  Here  you  have  given  a  riddle 
to  your  guests,  and  have  not  told  me  the  answer. 
You  are  hard-hearted." 

"  My  dear  girl,"  he  said,  "  I  have  not  told  it 
even  to  father  or  mother;  and  should  I  tell  it 
to  you  ?  " 

Then  she  wept  harder  than  ever;  and  she  kept 
on  weeping  until  the  seventh  and  last  day  of  the 
feast.  And  when  Splendid  Sun  saw  how  sad  a 
wedding  he  was  going  to  have,  he  at  last  gave  up, 
and  told  her;  and  she  dried  her  tears,  and  went 
and  told  the  young  men.  In  the  evening,  when  the 
feast  was  at  an  end,  Splendid  Sun  said, — 

u  How  now  about  those  thirty  suits  of  clothing? 
Have  you  found  out  the  riddle  ?  " 

And  the  young  men  laughed,  and  said,  "  What 
is  sweeter  than  honey,  and  what  is  stronger  than 
a  lion  ? " 

"You  would  not  have  found  that  out  if  you  had 
dealt  fairly  with  me,"  said  Splendid  Sun. 


173 

What  was  he  to  do  now?  He  could  not  take  his 
bride  home  until  this  wager  was  paid.  He  had  no 
money.  His  father  had  no  money,  for  he  had 
spent  it  all  to  pay  for  the  maiden  and  for  this  feast. 
Splendid  Sun  was  angry  at  the  young  Wanderers, 
and  he  was  vexed  with  the  fair  girl  who  had  caused 
all  the  trouble. 

That  very  night  he  went  out  to  another  town  of 
the  Wanderers,  and  stole  thirty  suits  of  clothing, 
and  came  back  and  gave  them  to  the  men  who  had 
gained  the  wager.  It  is  even  said  that  he  killed 
thirty  men,  and  took  the  garments  from  their  backs  ; 
and  I  am  sorry  to  believe  that  he  was  so  wicked. 
He  was  so  angry  that  he  would  not  look  at  the 
maiden,  but  left  her  with  her  kinsfolk,  and  went 
back  to  his  father's  house. 


IV.     THE    FOXES. 


Splendid  Sun  soon  began  to  understand  how 
very  foolish  he  had  been ;  and  as  the  days  passed  by 
he  longed  to  see  his  young  bride  and  ask  her  par- 
don. But  he  was  ashamed  to  go  up  to  her  father's 
house,  and  he  was  afraid  that  she  would  laugh 
at  him  and  despise  him.  About  the  time  of  the 
wheat  harvest,  however,  when  the  grain  was  stand- 
ing yellow  and  ripe  in  the  fields,  he  made  up  his 


174 

mind  that  he  would  go  and  claim  her  as  his  wife, 
and  bring  her  home.  He  had  no  presents  of  jewelry 
or  gold  to  take  to  her;  but  he  carried  under  his 
arm  a  beautiful  pet  kid,  which  he  felt  sure  would 
please  her,  and  make  her  forget  his  folly. 

But  when  he  came  to  the  house  in  Timnath  and 
asked  to  see  his  bride,  her  father  told  him  that  she 
was  not  there. 

"  Truly,"  he  said,  "  we  thought  that  you  hated  her, 
and  that  you  would  never  come  to  see  her  again ; 
and  so  I  gave  her  to  one  of  your  friends,  and  she  is 
wedded  to  him.  But,  see  here!  Don't  you  think 
that  her  younger  sister  is  fairer  than  she?  You 
may  have  this  sister  if  you  want  her,  and  I  will 
give  you  my  blessing  besides ;  for  I  would  not 
have  you  too  greatly  disappointed." 

Splendid  Sun  was  so  angry  that  he  did  not  stop 
to  make  any  answer.  He  turned  away,  and  started 
homeward  at  once,  feeling  very  bitter  against  the 
Wanderers,  and  trying  to  think  of  some  way  in 
which  he  could  punish  them  for  the  injury  they  had 
done  him.  As  he  passed  through  the  vineyards 
and  wheat  fields,  he  noticed  that  the  stalks  of  grain 
and  the  grass  and  the  leaves  were  very  dry;  for  it 
was  midsummer,  and  it  had  not  rained  for  a  long 
time. 

"  I  know  what  I'll  do,"  said  he.    "  I  will  revenge 


175 

myself  upon  those  young  Wanderers  for  all  the 
harm  they  have  done  to  me ;  and  I  will  not  be 
half  as  wicked  as  they  are,  either." 

So,  instead  of  going  home,  he  turned  aside  into 
the  place  where  the  wild  grapevines  grew,  and 
began  to  set  traps  for  foxes.  There  were  a  great 
many  foxes  in  that  neighborhood,  and  nobody  knew 
how  to  catch  them  better  than  he.  The  next  morn- 
ing he  came  back,  and  found  the  traps  full.  All 
together,  he  and  the  men  whom  he  brought  with 
him  took  three  hundred  of  the  animals  alive  and 
unhurt.  Then  they  tied  them  together  in  couples, 
and  put  a  firebrand  between  each  couple,  and  set 
them  loose  in  the  fields.  The  maddened  foxes 
rushed  hither  and  thither  with  the  burning  brands, 
and  soon  set  fire  not  only  to  the  standing  wheat,  but 
to  the  shocks  of  harvested  grain  and  the  vineyards 
and  the  olive  orchards.  It  was  all  that  the  farmers 
could  do  to  save  anything  from  the  flames. 

The  next  day,  as  they  looked  over  their  black 
and  smoking  fields,  they  began  to  ask  who  it  was 
that  had  started  the  fire. 

"  It  was  Splendid  Sun,"  said  one  who  had  seen 
him  tying  the  brands  to  the  foxes. 

"Why  should  he  do  this  great  wrong  to  us?" 
they  asked. 

"  He  did  it  because  his  bride   was    taken   from 


i76 

him,  and  given  to  one  of  the  young  men  who 
had  pretended  to  be  friendly  to  him,"  was  the 
answer. 

The  farmers  were  very  angry,  and  vowed  that 
they  would  punish  not  only  Splendid  Sun,  but 
everybody  that  had  had  a  hand  in  leading  him  to 
do  this  thing.  They  were  afraid  of  Splendid  Sun, 
and  were  in  no  hurry  to  follow  him  home.  But 
when  night  came,  they  raised  a  mob  of  idle  fellows, 
and  went  up  into  the  town,  and  set  fire  to  the 
house  in  which  the  young  bride  lived;  and  both 
she  and  her  father  were  burned  to  death  in  the 
flames. 

When  Splendid  Sun  heard  what  had  been  done, 
he  was  wild  with  grief  and  anger. 

"  I  will  punish  those  Wanderers  yet!"  he  cried; 
"and  when  I  have  made  them  suffer  enough  for 
all  the  misery  they  have  caused  me,  then  I  will 
let  them  alone." 

That  very  day  he  went  into  the  town,  and  fell 
upon  the  leaders  of  the  mob  and  upon  the  thirty 
young  men,  and  smote  them  with  great  slaughter. 
After  that,  he  knew  that  all  the  country  would 
be  up  in  arms  against  him;  and  so  he  fled  hastily 
from  the  place,  and  made  his  home  on  the  top  of 
a  rocky  hill  called  Etam,  some  miles  to  the  north- 
ward. Most  of  the  people  in  that  neighborhood 


177 

were  of  his  own  race,  and  proudly  called  them- 
selves Israelites,  or  the  Children  of  the  Prince ; 
but  they  had  been  ruled  over  and  oppressed  by 
the  Wanderers  for  so  many  years,  that  they  had 
lost  all  courage  and  all  hope.  For  a  time  he  was 
quite  safe  in  his  stronghold,  and  he  made  many 
friends  among  those  who  lived  in  the  valleys  below 
him.  Soon,  however,  his  enemies  learned  where 
he  was,  and  sent  a  great  army  out  to  capture 
him. 

The  poor  Children  of  the  Prince  were  very  much 
frightened  when  this  army  marched  into  their 
country  and  camped  in  their  fields. 

"  What  have  we  done,  that  you  should  come  up 
against  us  in  this  way?"  they  asked. 

"  We  are  after  Splendid  Sun,"  the  Wanderers 
said.  "We  are  going  to  capture  him,  and  take 
him  back  with  us,  and  punish  him ;  and  if  you 
don't  help  us  take  him,  you  shall  suffer  for  it." 

Then  three  thousand  men  of  the  Children  of 
the  Prince  went  out  to  Etam  Hill,  and  called  to 
Splendid  Sun,  and  talked  with  him. 

"  Do  you  know  that  the  Wanderers  are  our 
masters  ?  "  they  asked.  "  And  why  do  you  come 
among  us,  and  make  them  hate  us  ? " 

"  I  only  revenged  myself  upon  them  for  the 
harm  which  they  did  to  me,"  said  Splendid  Sun. 

STO.    OF  THE   EAST — 12 


178 

"  But  that  isn't  the  question,"  they  said.  "  If 
we  don't  give  you  up  to  them,  they  will  burn  our 
town,  and  kill  us,  and  make  slaves  of  our  children. 
Won't  you  let  us  bind  you  and  take  you  to  them, 
so  that  they -will  do -us  no  harm?" 

"  Promise  me,"  he  said,  "  that  you  will  not  try 
to  hurt  or  kill  me." 

And  they  promised. 

Then  he  went  down  the  hill,  and  let  them  bind 
him  with  two  new  cords  that  were  very  strong. 
And  they  carried  him  and  gave  him  to  the  captain 
of  the  Wanderers'  army. 

The  Wanderers  were  glad  when  they  saw  Splen- 
did Sun  in  their  power,  and  they  began  to  shout, 
and  throw  stones  at  him,  and  boast  of  what  would 
be  done  to  him  when  they  had  taken  him  back. 
But  Splendid  Sun  stretched  out  his  arms  and  his 
legs,  and  the  cords  flew  in  pieces  as  though  they 
had  been  burned.  He  struck  right  and  left,  and 
his  enemies  fled  for  their  lives.  Then  he  found 
a  strong  bone  on  the  ground,  the  jawbone  of  some 
animal  that  had  lately  been  killed.  He  picked  it  up, 
and  fell  upon  the  Wanderers  in  earnest.  The  cow- 
ardly fellows  were  taken  by  surprise,  and  not  one  of 
them  dared  face  about  and  withstand  him.  That 
jawbone  did  wonders  in  his  hands.  The  whole 
army  was  routed,  and  a  thousand  of  his  enemies 


1/9 

were  left  dead  on  the  field.  There  never  was  such 
another  battle. 

When  it  was  all  over,  Splendid  Sun  threw  the 
bone  upon  the  ground,  and  sat  down  to  rest.  But 
he  was  almost  dead  with  thirst,  and  he  had  followed 
his  foes  far  away  from  the  wells  where  water  was 
to  be  found.  The  sun  shone  hot  upon  him,  and 
he  thought  he  was  going  to  die. 

"  What  is  the  use  of  my  strength  now  ? "  he  said. 
"  I  shall  die  here  of  thirst,  and  my  foes  will  laugh 
over  me." 

He  looked  at  the  jawbone  lying  in  the  sand  a 
little  way  off.  Something  close  to  it  sparkled  in 
the  sunlight.  It  did  not  look  like  sand,  but  like 
water.  He  got  up  and  went  closer.  Yes,  there 
was  a  spring  of  cool  water,  bubbling  up  right 
under  the  bone.  He  was  saved. 

Soon  a  great  company  of  the  Children  of  the 
Prince  came  out  to  meet  him.  The  men  had  armed 
themselves  with  whatever  they  could  find ;  and  they 
said,  "  If  you  will  be  our  captain,  we  will  follow  you, 
and  fight  against  the  Wanderers  who  have  oppressed 
our  people  for  so  many  years." 

Splendid  Sun  was  now  at  the  head  of  a  strong 
army.  The  Wanderers  dared  not  stand  against 
them  anywhere;  and  before  another  year  the  Chil- 
dren of  the  Prince  were  a  free  people.  They  were 


i8o 

very  grateful  to  Splendid  Sun  for  what  he  had  done 
for  them ;  and  they  chose  him  to  be  their  chief  and 
lawgiver. 

And  he  was  their  chief  and  lawgiver  for  twenty 
years. 

V.     THE   SECRET. 

The  Wanderers  were  very  much  afraid  of  Splendid 
Sun,  and  they  tried  in  every  way  to  get  him  in  their 
power.  Once  he  disguised  himself  and  went  down 
into  one  of  their  cities.  His  enemies  learned  that 
he  was  there,  and  lay  in  wait  all  night  to  catch  him 
when  he  should  come  out  to  the  city  gate  in  the 
morning.  But  he  arose  earlier  than  they  expected ; 
and  when  he  found  the  gate  closed  against  him,  he 
picked  it  up,  and  pulled  up  the  two  gate  posts,  and 
carried  all  to  the  top  of  a  hill  in  his  own  land. 

Near  the  border  of  Splendid  Sun's  country  there 
lived  a  fair  woman  named  Dainty,  or,  as  they  called 
her  in  their  own  language,  Delilah ;  and  Splendid 
Sun  went  often  to  see  her.  The  rulers  of  the 
Wanderers  knew  that  she  had  great  influence  over 
him,  and  so  they  promised  to  give  her  eleven 
hundred  pieces  of  silver  if  she  would  find  out 
the  secret  of  his  strength.  She  pretended  that 
she  thought  a  great  deal  of  him,  and  he  was 
foolish  enough  to  believe  her. 


"Come  now,  Splendid  Sun,"  she  said  one  day, 
"tell  me  what  makes  you  so  strong,  and  how 
you  can  be  made  weak  like  other  men." 

Splendid  Sun  laughed,  for  he  did  not  mean 
to  part  with  his  secret. 

"  Oh,  tie  me  with  seven  green  withes,"  he  said, 
"  and  then  I  shall  be  as  weak  as  any  other  man." 

She  told  the  rulers  what  he  had  said,  and  they 
gave  her  seven  green  withes  that  were  long  and 
strong;  and  armed  men  hid  themselves  in  her 
house,  ready  to  seize  him  as  soon  as  his  strength 
passed  from  him.  The  next  day  she  bound  him 
tight  and  strong  with  the  withes,  and  when  every- 
thing was  ready,  she  cried  out,  "  Your  enemies 
are  upon  you,  Splendid  Sun !  "  He  stretched  his 
arms,  and  the  withes  were  broken  in  pieces  as 
easily  as  you  can  break  a  thread. 

Dainty  complained  bitterly  because  he  had  not 
told  her  the  truth.  "  You  have  mocked  me,"  she 
said.  "  Now,  tell  me  truly  how  I  can  bind  you  so 
as  to  hold  you  fast.  It  is  all  in  fun,  you  know." 

Splendid  Sun  laughed  again.  "  Oh,  well,"  he 
said,  "  if  you  must  have  that  kind  of  sport,  then 
tie  me  with  new  ropes  that  have  never  been  used." 

She  told  the  rulers,  and  they  gave  her  three 
new  ropes  that  had  never  been  used.  And  the 
next  day  she  bound  him  with  them  until  it  seemed 


1 82 

as  if  he  could  never  move.  Then  she  cried  out, 
"Your  enemies  are  here,  Splendid  Sun!"  He 
stretched  his  arms,  and  the  ropes  were  snapped 
in  a  hundred  pieces. 

"  O  Splendid  Sun ! "  said  Dainty,  "  you  are  so 
cruel.  You  never  tell  me  the  truth,  and  you  don't 
care  anything  for  me  at  all." 

"  Well,  then,  I  will  tell  you,"  said  he.  "  To-mor- 
row you  may  weave  the  seven  locks  of  my  hair  in 
your  loom,  and  then  I  shall  be  as  weak  as  a  child." 

The  next  day  he  lay  asleep  on  a  couch  by  the 
loom,  and  she  wove  the  seven  locks  of  his  long 
hair  in  the  cloth  which  she  was  making,  and  then 
fastened  it  all  with  a  huge  pin.  Certainly  she 
would  hold  him  this  time.  Then  she  cried  out, 
"Here  come  your  enemies,  Splendid  Sun!"  He 
woke  up  quickly,  and  walked  away  with  the  loom, 
the  pin,  and  the  cloth  upon  his  shoulder. 

Dainty  did  not  like  it  at  all  when  she  found  that 
he  had  not  yet  told  her  the  truth. 

"  Oh,  why  do  you  mock  me  ? "  she  said.  "  These 
three  times  you  have  told  me  false.  You  are  cruel ! 
You  laugh  at  me !  " 

And  every  day  after  that,  she  teased  him  and 
pressed  him  with  her  words,  until  he  was  vexed 
almost  to  death.  At  last,  to  get  rid  of  her  teasing, 
he  told  her  the  truth. 


(i83) 


1 84 

"  Never  in  my  life,"  said  he,  "  has  a  hair  of  my 
head  been  cut  or  shorn;  and  never  has  wine  or  any 
strong  drink  touched  my  lips.  If  my  head  were 
shaven,  then  I  would  be  as  weak  as  any  other  man." 

Dainty  felt  sure  that  he  had  told  her  the  truth 
this  time,  and  she  sent  word  to  the  rulers  of  the 
Wanderers  to  come  up.  They  came,  and  brought 
the  eleven  hundred  pieces  of  silver,  and  hid  them- 
selves in  her  house.  The  next  day  when  Splendid 
Sun  went  to  sleep,  she  had  a  man  ready  to  clip 
off  the  seven  long  plaits  of  hair.  Then  she 
screamed  out, — 

"  Your  enemies  are  upon  you,  Splendid  Sun  !  " 

He  awoke  quickly,  but  all  his  strength  had  left 
him.  The  Wanderers  rushed  in  upon  him  and 
seized  him ;  and,  although  he  fought  bravely,  he 
was  no  stronger  than  one  of  them.  Then  they 
put  out  his  eyes,  and  took  him  down  to  their  city 
of  Gaza,  and  chained  him  with  chains  of  brass. 

After  that,  for  a  long  time,  they  made  him  grind 
corn  as  a  slave  in  the  prison  house. 

VI.     THE    TEMPLE. 

It  seemed  as  though  there  was  no  longer  any 
hope  for  Splendid  Sun.  Yet  in  a  little  while  his 
hair  began  to  grow;  and  the  longer  it  grew,  the 


i8S 

stronger  he  became.     His  enemies  never  thought 
of  that,  however. 

One  day  they  had  a  great  feast  in  the  temple  of 
their  god  Dagon,  and  everyb6dy  in  Gaza  was  there. 
They  said  that  it  was  Dagon  that  had  shown  them 
how  to  take  Splendid  Sun,  and  so  they  had  made 
the  feast  as  a  sort  of  thanksgiving  in  his  honor. 
Everybody  wanted  to  see  the  strong  man  who  had 
done  so  much  mischief  to  the  Wanderers :  hence 
he  was  to  be  taken  into  the  temple,  where  they 
would  make  a  kind  of  public  show  of  him.  It  is 
likely  that  they  intended  to  torture  him,  and  then 
offer  him  to  Dagon  as  a  sacrifice. 

And  so,  when  the  people  were  all  feeling  very 
merry,  and  there  was  a  great  crowd  in  the  temple, 
and  three  thousand  men  and  boys  were  on  the 
roof  looking  down,  they  called  for  Splendid  Sun.^ 
To  show  how  weak  and  harmless  he  had  become, 
he  was  brought  out  of  the  prison  house  by  a  little 
boy.  The  boy  led  him  up  the  steps,  in  the  sight  of 
all  the  people,  and  put  him  between  the  two  great 
middle  posts  of  the  temple.  The  blind  hero  reached 
out  with  his  hands  and  felt  of  the  posts. 

"Are  these  the  middle  posts  of  the  temple?" 
he  asked. 

"  Yes,  they  are  the  posts  that  hold  up  the  roof," 
said  the  boy. 


1 86 

Then  Splendid  Sun  took  hold  of  the  posts,  one 
with  his  right  hand,  and  one  with  his  left, 

"  Let  me  die  with  my  enemies,"  he  said. 

And  he  bowed  himself  with  all  his  might ;  and 
the  roof  fell  upon  all  that  were  within  the  temple, 
and  they  were  crushed  to  death.  And  it  was  a 
common  saying  in  his  country  after  that,  that 
Splendid  Sun  slew  more  people  at  his  death  than 
he  had  ever  slain  in  his  lifetime. 


A   STORY   OF   HARVEST   TIME. 

I.     THE    GLEANER. 

ON  every  side  of  the  town  of  Bethlehem,  as  far 
as  one  could  see,  there  were  fields  after  fields  of 
waving  yellow  grain.  No  man  could  remember 
that  there  had  ever  been  so  fine  a  crop  of  barley 
and  wheat;  no  man  could  call  to  mind  the  time 
when  the  land  was  so  full  of  plenty. 

"  Truly,  our  town  is  well  called  Bethlehem,  or 
the  House  of  Bread,"  said  the  people  one  to 
another  as  they  went  about  their  tasks ;  "  for  here 
we  have  food  enough  for  ourselves,  and  to  spare." 

Before  the  sun  had  risen  above  the  hills,  and 
while  yet  the  dew  lingered  among  the  grass,  the 
harvesters  were  at  their  work.  With  their  hook- 
shaped  sickles  they  cut  the  grain  handful  by 
handful,  and  laid  it  in  uneven  swaths  upon  the 
ground  ;  and  as  they  kept  time  with  one  another, 
they  chanted  a  song  of  thanksgiving  and  praise 
to  the  Sender  of  the  harvest,  the  Giver  of  good 

187 


i88 

gifts,  the  Lord  of  the  earth  and  sky.  After  them 
came  the  boys  and  young  men  who  had  not  yet 
learned  to  handle  the  sickle,  —  some  to  gather  up 
the  swaths  into  bundles,  and  others  to  bind  the 
bundles  into  sheaves. 

Following  these  were  the  gleaners,  the  poor  peo- 
ple of  the  village,  and  the  strangers  who  were  with- 
out homes  in  the  land;  for  it  was  a  law  in  that 
country  that  all  the  loose  grain  that  was  upon  the 
ground,  and  all  that  was  left  uncut  by  the  reapers, 
should  belong  to  the  needy  and  the  homeless. 

It  was  still  early  in  the  day,  when  some  one  cried 
out,  "  The  master  is  coming !  " 

All  eyes  were  turned  towards  the  entrance  to 
the  field.  The  reapers  ceased  their  chant;  they 
stood  up  and  wiped  the  sweat  from  their  brows; 
they  rested  the  points  of  their  sickles  upon  the 
ground.  Adown  the  road  came  Boaz,  the  owner 
of  the  field,  a  portly,  middle-aged  man,  walking 
leisurely,  as  though  well  pleased  with  himself  and 
with  all  the  world  beside.  He  was  the  richest  man 
in  the  town,  and  one  of  its  rulers.  The  fields 
on  either  side  of  the  roagl  were  his ;  the  great 
house  just  over  the  brow  of  the  hill  was  his 
home;  the  men  and  boys  who  were  harvesting 
the  grain  were  his  servants.  He  was  indeed  a 
great  man. 


189 

He  walked  across  the  field  towards  the  place 
where  his  men  were  waiting. 

"  The  Lord  be  with  you !  "  he  said. 

And  they  answered  him,  "  The  Lord  bless  thee !  " 

Then  the  reapers  thrust  their  sickles  among  the 
grain  again,  and  the  harvest  song  was  chanted 
louder  and  cheerier  than  before,  as  all  hands  moved 
slowly  across  the  field. 

"  Hearken  to  me,  Nathan,"  said  the  master,  calling 
to  his  head  servant.  "  Hearken  to  me,  Nathan,  for 
I  would  fain  speak  to  thee." 

"  What  is  it,  my  master  ?  "  said  the  servant ;  and 
he  gave  his  sickle  into  the  hands  of  a  young  man, 
and  ran  back  to  where  Boaz  was  standing. 

"  Whose  damsel  is  this  that  gleans  the  wheat 
so  timidly,  and  seems  to  be  a  stranger  to  the  har- 
vest field  ? " 

And  the  head  servant  answered,  "  My  master,  it 
is  the  damsel  that  came  back  with  Naomi,  your 
kinswoman,  from  the  land  of  the  strangers  beyond 
the  river  Jordan." 

"  Indeed !  "  said  the  great  man.  "  I  had  not  heard 
of  her.  Tell  me  all  that  you  know." 

"  You  no  doubt  remember,"  said  the  head  servant, 
"  that  in  the  year  of  the  great  famine  many  of  our 
people  crossed  over  into  the  land  of  the  strangers ; 
for  there  was  much  grain  on  the  other  side  of  the 


I 


(190) 


river,  while  at  home  there  was  none  at  all.  Among 
the  last  that  went  was  your  cousin  Elimelech,  with 
his  wife  Naomi  and  her  two  sons.  They  were  so 
well  pleased  with  the  country  and  the  people,  that 
they  staid  there,  and  did  not  come  home  again  when 
the  famine  was  at  an  end.  But  soon  Elimelech 
died,  and  the  two  sons  took  to  themselves  wives 
of  the  fair  daughters  of  the  land.  Then  the  sons 
also  died,  and  Naomi  was  left  alone  with  her  two 
daughters-in-law.  They  were  very,  very  poor;  for 
their  husbands  had  been  only  sojourners  in  the  . 
land,  and  their  goods  and  all  that  they  had  were 
taken  by  their  creditors.  Then  Naomi  said  to  the 
two  young  women,  '  I  will  go  back  into  my  own 
country,  to  Bethlehem,  the  House  of  Bread  ;  for  my 
kinsfolk  dwell  there,  and  I  have  heard  that  the  Lord 
has  visited  his  people,  and  given  them  great  plenty. 
There  I  can  work  with  my  hands,  and  satisfy  all 
my  needs.'  And  the  two  young  women  said, '  We 
also  will  go  with  thee.'  But  Naomi  said,  '  Nay, 
but  stay  with  your  kindred.  Go,  each  to  her 
mother's  house,  The  Lord  deal  kindly  with  you, 
as  ye  have  dealt  with  the  dead  and  with  me !  The 
Lord  grant  you  that  you  may  find  rest,  each  in  the 
house  of  her  husband!'  Then  she  kissed  them,  and 
they  all  wept  together.  And  the  young  women 
said,  '  Surely,  we  will  go  back  with  you  to  your  own 


people.'  But  Naomi  said,  *  Not  so,  my  daughters. 
Turn  again,  for  you  shall  not  go  with  me.'  Then 
the  elder  of  the  damsels  kissed  her,  and  returned  to 
her  own  mother ;  but  the  younger,  whose  name  is 
Ruth,  said,  '  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee :  for 
whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go;  and  where  thou 
lodgest,  I  will  lodge.  Thy  people  shall  be  my 
people,  and  thy  God  my  God;  and  where  thou  diest 
will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried/  So,  when 
Naomi  saw  that  Ruth  was  so  minded  as  not  to  be 
put  off,  she  allowed  her  to  come  with  her.  And 
now,  behold,  they  have  been  only  a  few  days  in 
Bethlehem,  and  they  are  very  poor.  And  this 
morning  as  I  came  with  the  reapers  to  the  field, 
the  damsel  Ruth  met  me  by  the  roadside,  and 
said,  *  I  pray  thee,  let  me  glean  and  gather  after 
the  reapers  among  the  sheaves ! '  And  I  said, 
*  Come,  for  my  master  is  kind,  and  he  turneth  no 
one  away.'  So  she  came,  and  has  followed  the 
reapers  until  now." 

"  Thou  hast  well  spoken,"  said  Boaz  to  the  head 
servant.  "  Go  now  back  to  thy  work,  and  bid  the 
young  men  let  her  glean  among  the  sheaves,  and 
molest  her  not;  and  let  fall  some  of  the  handfuls 
on  purpose  for  her,  and  leave  them  that  she  may 
glean  the  more." 

Then   he   called   to    Ruth,   and    said,    "  Hearest 


193 

thou  not,  my  daughter  ?  Let  thine  eyes  be  on 
the  reapers,  and  do  thou  glean  that  which  they 
leave  behind.  And  when  thou  art  athirst,  go  unto 
the  vessels,  and  drink  of  that  which  the  young  men 
have  drawn." 

Then  Ruth,  trembling  and  blushing,  bowed  her 
face  to  the  ground,  and  said  to  the  great  man, 
"  Why  should  you  show  me  so  great  kindness,  see- 
ing that  I  am  a  stranger  in  this  land  ? " 

And  the  great  man  said,  "  I  have  heard  of  thy 
kindness  to  Naomi,  thy  mother-in-law;  and  how 
thou  hast  left  thine  own  kindred  and  thy  native 
land,  and  art  come  among  a  people  who  are 
strangers  to  thee.  The  Lord  recompense  thee ! 
The  Lord  keep  thee  and  protect  thee ! " 

And  Ruth  thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  and 
followed  on  after  the  workmen.  And  when  the 
luncheon  time  came,  Boaz  asked  her  to  sit  down 
with  the  reapers  and  eat  of  their  bread ;  and  he 
handed  her  the  parched  corn,  and  bade  her  dip  her 
morsel  in  the  cooling  wine. 

So  she  gleaned  in  the  field  until  evening;  and 
then  she  beat  out  what  she  had  gleaned,  and  it  was 
about  a  bushel  of  barley. 

When  she  went  back  to  her  lodgings  in  the  town, 
her  mother-in-law  asked  her  where  she  had  been, 
that  she  had  gleaned  so  much.  And  Ruth  said,  "  I 

STO.    OF  THE   EAST — 13 


194 

have  been  in  the  fields  of  the  great  man  who  is 
called  Boaz ;  and  he  was  very  kind  to  me." 

And  Naomi  told  her  that  Boaz  was  one  of  their 
nearest  kinsmen,  and  said,  "  Blessed  may  he  be !  for 
he  has  not  left  off  his  kindness  to  the  living  and 
the  dead." 

And  Ruth  gleaned  every  day  in  the  fields  of  Boaz, 
by  the  side  of  his  maidens,  until  the  barley  harvest 
and  the  wheat  harvest  were  ended. 


II.     THE    HARVEST    FEAST. 

Now,  Naomi  was  busy  every  day  planning  how 
she  might  make  her  daughter-in-law  happy;  and 
she  thought,  that  if  she  could  only  persuade  the  rich 
man  Boaz  to  marry  the  damsel,  there  could  be  no 
better  fortune.  But  how  could  she  bring  this  about, 
seeing  that  Ruth  was  so  very  poor,  and  withal  a 
stranger  in  the  land  ? 

There  was  a  curious  custom  in  those  times  that 
was  intended  to  keep  the  property  of  a  family  from 
going  to  others  when  the  husband  happened  to  die, 
as  had  Ruth's  husband,  without  leaving  children. 
In  such  case,  the  nearest  relative  was  in  honor 
bound  to  marry  the  widow.  And  so  Naomi  thought 
that  if  Boaz  should  be  reminded  of  his  kinship, 
and  of  his  duty  to  marry  Ruth,  he  would  be  glad 


195 

to  take  her ;  if  not  because  of  her  beauty  and  good- 
ness, then  for  the  sake  of  her  dead  husband's  estate, 
that  might  be  saved,  and  kept  in  the  family.  While 
Ruth  was  gleaning  in  the  fields,  Naomi  was  think- 
ing how  all  this  might  be  brought  about. 

At  last  the  harvest  was  ended,  and  the  barley  was 
all  winnowed;  and  Boaz  had  a  great  feast  on  his 
threshing  floor;  and  master  and  servants  and  neigh- 
bors all  met  together  and  rejoiced.  That  night 
Naomi  took  care  that  Ruth  should  dress  herself  in 
her  most  beautiful  garments,  and  then  she  arranged 
that  the  damsel  and  Boaz  should  meet  at  the  close 
of  the  feast. 

And  Ruth  told  Boaz  of  his  kinship  to  her  dead 
husband;  and  all  her  words  were  words  of  maidenly 
modesty,  but  they  brought  about  the  very  thing 
that  Naomi  had  planned  and  desired.  The  great 
man  listened  with  delight ;  and,  although  he  knew 
that  there  was  one  man  who  was  nearer  of  kin 
than  himself,  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would 
marry  the  maiden,  if  at  the  same  time  he  might 
do  that  which  was  right.  As  for  Ruth,  she  has- 
tened back  to  her  lodgings,  and  told  Naomi  all 
that  Boaz  had  said. 

"  Rejoice,  my  daughter,"  said  the  mother-in-law, 
"for  surely  the  man  will  not  rest  until  he  has  fin- 
ished this  matter  by  making  thee  his  wife." 


196 


III.     THE    WEDDING. 


Early  the  next  morning  Boaz  went  up  to  the  gate 
of  the  town,  and  sat  down  there ;  for  that  was  the 
place  in  which  the  men  were  wont  to  meet  to  settle 
all  kinds  of  business  and  all  disputes. 

By  and  by  the  man  came  by  whom  he  wished  to 
see ;  and  he  cried  out  to  him,  "  Ho !  friend  and 
kinsman,  turn  aside  and  sit  down  here." 

And  the  man  turned  aside  and  sat  down. 

Then  they  called  ten  of  the  elders  of  the  city,  and 
said,  "  Sit  ye  down  here,  and  judge  concerning  the 
matter  that  is  between  us." 

And  the  elders  came  and  sat  down. 

Then  Boaz  said  to  the  man  whom  he  had  first 
called, "  You  no  doubt  remember  our  cousin  Elime- 
lech,  who  went  away  from  our  town  during  the  time 
of  the  great  famine,  and  how  he  died  in  a  strange 
land,  leaving  a  widow,  Naomi,  and  two  sons." 

And  the  man  said,  "  Yes,  I  remember." 

"  Perhaps  you  have  also  heard,"  said  Boaz,  "  that 
the  two  sons,  after  marrying  wives,  also  died,  with- 
out leaving  any  children." 

"  Yes,  I  have  heard  that  also,"  said  the  man. 

"  Very  well,  then,"  said  Boaz.  "  Now,  everybody 
in  Bethlehem  knows  that  Elimelech  was  the  owner 
of  a  fine  piece  of  land  just  outside  of  the  town. 


i97 

Naomi,  who  has  lately  come  back  to  her  own  people, 
wishes  to  sell  this  land ;  and,  unless  the  kinsmen 
of  Elimelech  will  redeem  it,  it  will  be  lost  to  the 
family.  I  need  not  tell  you,  my  friend,  that  you 
are  the  nearest  kinsman,  while  I  stand  only  in  the 
second  place ;  and  so  you  have  the  first  right  to 
redeem  it.  Will  you  redeem  it,  or  will  you  not  ?  " 

And  the  man  said,  "  I  will  redeem  it." 

Then  Boaz  said,  "  In  the  day  that  you  buy  it 
of  Naomi,  you  must  also  take  her  daughter-in-law 
Ruth  for  your  wife ;  for  such  is  the  custom  and  the 
law  among  us." 

And  the  kinsman  said,  "  Then  I  cannot  redeem 
it,  and  I  give  up  to  you  all  my  claims  and  rights  as 
a  kinsman.  Buy  it,  if  you  wish,  for  yourself." 

Now,  it  was  the  custom  in  those  old  times,  that, 
when  a  bargain  was  made,  the  man  agreeing  to  it 
should  loose  his  shoe,  and  give  it  to  the  other 
in  the  presence  of  the  elders  of  the  town.  So 
Boaz  loosed  his  shoe,  and  gave  it  to  his  kinsman. 
Then  he  said  to  the  elders, — 

"  You  are  witnesses  this  day  that  I  buy  all  the 
land  that  belonged  to  my  cousin  Elimelech  and  to 
his  two  sons,  who  are  dead.  I  buy  also,  as  my  wife, 
the  damsel  Ruth,  the  widow  of  the  younger  of  the  two 
sons,  whom  he  married  in  the  land  of  the  strangers. 
Of  all  this,  you  are  the  witnesses  this  day." 


1 98 

And  all  the  people  that  were  in  the  gate,  as  well 
as  the  ten  elders  who  sat  there,  answered,  "  We  are 
witnesses." 

Then  they  gave  him  congratulations,  and  wished 
him  many  blessings,  and  prayed  that  Ruth  might 
also  be  blessed,  and  that  their  family  might  bring 
honor  to  their  country  and  be  famous  in  Bethlehem. 
And  the  women  hastened  to  visit  Naomi  to  tell  her 
how  glad  they  were  that  all  things  had  turned  out 
so  well ;  and  they  commended  Ruth  for  her  beauty 
and  her  goodness  and  her  faithfulness,  and  said  that 
she  was  better  than  seven  sons. 

And  so  Boaz  and  Ruth  were  married  according 
to  the  customs  of  the  time,  and  they  lived  together 
happily  for  many  years  in  the  great  house  which 
Boaz  built  in  the  town  of  Bethlehem.  And  trav- 
elers in  the  East  are  still  shown  the  spot  on  which 
that  house  stood;  for  it  is  the  spot  where,  a  thou- 
sand years  later,  the  Christ  child  was  born. 


THE   SHEPHERD  BOY   WHO   BECAME   KING. 

I.     THE    SEER. 

NEAR  the  village  called  Bethlehem,  or  the  House 
of  Bread,  there  lived  an  old  man  who  had  eight 
sons.  I  do  not  know  how  rich  he  was,  but  his 
neighbors  called  him  Jesse,  a  word  which  in  their 
language  meant  Wealth.  His  grandfather,  whose 
name  was  Boaz,  had  been  one  of  the  great  men  of 
the  place  ;  and  his  grandmother,  whose  name  was 
Ruth,  had  been  famous  for  her  goodness  and 
beauty. 

One  day  word  was  brought  to  the  village  that  a 
certain  great  man  was  passing  that  way,  and  would 
stop  perhaps  for  a  day  or  two.  This  great  man 
was  a  seer,  or  prophet,  and  he  had  been  the  real 
ruler  of  the  country  for  many  years.  Everybody 
regarded  him  with  great  awe,  for  it  was  thought 
that  he  had  all  his  power  directly  from  God.  Even 
the  King  was  afraid  to  do  anything  without  first 
asking  his  leave,  So,  when  the  people  of  the  House 

199 


200 

of  Bread  heard  that  Seer  Samuel,  as  he  was  called, 
was  coming  to  their  village,  they  were  much  alarmed, 
and  began  to  wonder  what  they  had  done  that  he 
did  not  approve.  While  he  was  yet  on  the  road, 
they  sent  some  of  their  chief  men  to  meet  him, 
and  find  out  what  he  wanted  them  to  do.  The  men 
were  very  glad  when  they  saw  that  he  was  coming 
alone,  leading  a  young  white  heifer;  for  that  did 
not  look  as  though  he  meant  to  do  them  harm. 

"  Do  you  come  peaceably  ?  "  they  asked. 

"  I  have  come  to  slay  this  heifer  in  your  village, 
and  so  make  a  thank  offering  to  Heaven,"  he  an- 
swered. 

"  We  are  glad  that  you  have  seen  fit  so  to  honor 
us,"  they  said,  "  and  if  you  are  willing,  we  would 
like  to  help  you  to  make  this  offering." 

"  I  want  the  man  whom  you  call  Wealth  to  help 
me,"  said  the  Seer.  "  Let  him  come  with  his  sons, 
but  let  every  one  else  stand  back." 

So  Wealth  and  seven  of  his  sons  went  up  with 
the  Seer  to  the  top  of  a  hill  by  the  village,  and  the 
Seer  laid  his  hands  upon  them  and  blessed  them. 
Then  they  built  an  altar  with  stones,  and  kindled  a 
fire  upon  it;  and  when  they  had  killed  the  white 
heifer,  they  burned  parts  of  her  body  as  a  thank 
offering.  But  the  rest  of  the  people  stood  a  good 
way  off,  and  did  not  come  near. 


2OI 

Then  the  Seer  called  each  one  of  the  seven 
sons,  beginning  with  the  eldest,  and  had  them  pass 
before  him.  The  first  was  a  tall  and  very  hand- 
some young  man,  and  the  Seer  seemed  much 
pleased  with  him. 

"  Surely,  he  is  noble  enough  to  be  our  king,"  he 
said,  and  he  began  to  unstop  a  horn  of  oil  which  he 
held  in  his  hand.  Then  he  must  have  seen  some- 
thing in  the  young  man's  eye  which  did  not  please 
him;  for  he  said,  "  Pass  on,  I  have  no  need  of  you." 

The  second  of  the  sons  was  also  good-looking 
and  strong.  But  the  Seer  said,  "  This  is  not  the 
chosen  one." 

And  so  it  fared  with  the  third  and  with  all  the 
others.  There  was  something  about  each  one  of 
them  which  the  Seer  liked ;  but  there  was  some- 
thing that  he  disliked,  too.  When  the  last  one  had 
been  called  up  and  then  sent  away,  the  Seer  seemed 
to  be  in  great  trouble. 

"Surely,  I  thought  to  find  a  king  among  these 
young  men,"  he  said;  "but  not  one  of  them  is 
chosen." 

Then  he  said  to  Wealth,  "Are  all  of  your  chil- 
dren here  ?  " 

"All  but  one,"  said  Wealth.  "The  youngest, 
whom  we  call  Darling,  is  not  here.  He  is  only  a 
little  fellow,  and  I  didn't  think  it  worth  while  to 
call  him." 


202 

"  Where  is  he  ?  "  asked  the  Seer. 

"  He  is  tending  the  sheep  in  the  valley  over 
yonder,"  said  Wealth. 

"Send  and  fetch  him,"  said  the  Seer;  "and  we 
will  not  sit  down  till  he  comes." 

So  they  sent  and  brought  the  lad  from  the  sheep 
pasture.  He  was  a  ruddy-faced  boy,  slender  and 
handsome,  with  eyes  as  sharp  and  bright  as  an 
eagle's.  The  Seer  was  very  much  pleased  when 
he  saw  him. 

"  This  is  the  chosen  one,"  he  said. 

Then  he  unstopped  the  horn  that  was  in  his 
hand,  and  poured  the  oil  on  the  lad's  head,  and 
blessed  him. 

"  Behold,  I  anoint  thee  to  be  king!"  he  said.  Then 
he  turned  to  Wealth  and  the  seven  young  men  who 
stood  around  wondering,  and  said,  "  See  that  you 
tell  no  man  of  what  has  been  done  this  day." 

And  he  took  his  staff  in  his  hand,  and  walked 
down  the  hill,  and  away  towards  his  own  home,  and 
never  looked  back.  And  the  lad  went  back  to  his 
sheep. 

II.     THE    KING. 

Some  time  after  that,  a  great  change  came  over 
the  King  of  the  people  who  called  themselves  the 
Children  of  the  Prince.  He  seemed  to  have  lost 


203 

his  senses.  He  was  cruel  even  to  his  best  friends  ; 
and  there  were  times  when  he  was  so  wild  that 
nobody  dared  to  go  near  him.  The  Seer  said  that 
there  was  an  evil  spirit  in  him. 

There  was  only  one  thing  that  seemed  to  please 
him,  and  that  was  music.  At  the  sound  of  a  harp 
he  would  become  gentle  and  mild,  and  all  his  wild- 
ness  would  leave  him. 

And  so  the  best  harpers  in  all  the  country  were 
invited  to  come  and  play  before  the  King.  All 
went  well  for  a  time.  So  long  as  they  played 
sweet  tunes,  and  made  no  discord,  the  King  seemed 
pleased,  and  listened  quietly;  but  as  soon  as  any 
one  struck  a  false  note  he  grew  furious  again,  and 
at  last  he  drove  them  away  from  his  palace. 

Then  some  one  said,  "  Did  you  ever  hear  of  the 
young  shepherd  who  keeps  his  father's  sheep  in  the 
south  valley  ?  No  one  can  play  the  harp  so  well  as 
he.  Even  the  beasts  like  to  listen  to  him." 

The  King  overheard  what  was  said,  and  he  asked, 
"  Who  is  this  young  shepherd  ?  " 

"  He  is  the  son  of  the  man  who  is  called  Wealth," 
was  the  answer. 

"  Send  and  fetch  him  to  me,"  said  the  King. 

And  so  messengers  went  down  to  the  little  village, 
and  told  Wealth  that  the  King  wanted  to  see  the 
lad  who  tended  the  sheep,  and  who  played  so  sweetly 


204 

on  the  harp.  And  the  old  man  called  the  lad  from 
the  pastures,  and  gave  him  a  donkey  loaded  with 
bread,  and  a  bottle  of  wine,  and  a  fat  kid,  and  sent 
him  with  them  to  the  King.  And  the  King  was 
much  pleased  when  he  saw  him ;  for  he  was  tall 
and  comely,  and  the  music  of  the  harp  cheered  his 
heart  until  his  madness  left  him,  and  he  became  as 
gentle  as  a  child. 

"  The  sound  of  the  harp  has  driven  the  evil  spirit 
quite  away,"  said  the  Seer. 

And  the  boy  became  the  King's  page,  and  lived 
for  a  whole  year  in  the  King's  house. 

III.     THE    GIANT. 

About  this  time  a  tribe  of  rude  men  called 
Wanderers,  or  Philistines,  came  up  from  the  south, 
and  began  to  overrun  the  country.  The  King 
sent  out  his  warriors  against  them,  but  they  were 
driven  back.  It  looked  as  though  every  city  and 
field  would  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Wanderers. 
There  was  only  one  thing  to  be  done:  the  King 
himself  must  go  out  at  the  head  of  his  army,  and 
give  battle  to  his  savage  foes. 

There  was  no  longer  any  need  for  the  young 
page  in  the  King's  household,  for  everybody  was 
too  busy  to  listen  to  music  now.  So,  with  his 


20$ 

harp  on  his  shoulder,  he  went  back  home,  and 
tended  his  father's  flock  of  sheep  as  he  had  done 
before.  But  his  older  brothers  went  out  as  sol- 
diers in  the  army  of  the  King. 

The  Wanderers  pitched  their  camp  on  the  top 
of  a  hill,  and  the  Children  of  the  Prince  pitched 
their  camp  on  the  top  of  another  hill;  and  there 
was  a  broad  valley  between  them.  Each  army  was 
afraid  of  the  other,  and  so  neither  wanted  to  begin 
the  battle.  All  day  and  all  night  they  lay  there, 
making  great  boasts,  but  doing  nothing. 

In  the  morning  a  huge  giant,  who  was  the 
champion  of  the  Wanderers,  went  out  and  stood 
in  the  valley  midway  between  the  camps.  He 
was  called  the  Exile,  and  he  was  more  than  ten 
feet  in  height.  He  wore  a  helmet  of  brass  upon 
his  head,  and  he  was  clad  in  a  coat  of  mail  which 
was  made  of  brass  and  weighed  two  or  three 
hundred  pounds;  and  he  had  greaves  of  brass 
on  his  legs  and  a  target  of  brass  between  his 
shoulders.  The  shaft  of  his  spear  was  like  a  long 
beam,  and  its  heavy  iron  point  was  as  much  as  a 
common  man  could  lift. 

This  giant  stood  in  the  valley  and  cried  out  to 
the  King's  army  on  the  mountain  top,  "  What  are 
you  doing  up  there,  you  cowards  ?  Look  at  me ! 
I  am  a  Wanderer,  and  you  are  only  slaves  to  a 


206 

King.  But  I  will  make  an  agreement  with  you. 
Let  one  of  your  men  come  down  and  fight  me.  If 
he  can  kill  me,  then  all  my  followers  will  be  your 
slaves;  but  if  I  kill  him,  then  you  shall  be  our 
slaves.  Isn't  that  fair  enough  ?  I  dare  the  best  man 
among  you  to  come  down  and  fight  with  me !  " 

When  the  King  and  his  warriors  heard  these 
words,  and  saw  the  big  giant,  they  were  very  much 
afraid;  and  not  one  of  them  dared  make  him  any 
answer.  For  forty  days  the  two  armies  lay  in  camp 
on  the  hilltops,  and  every  morning  and  evening 
the  Exile  went  down  into  the  valley  and  made  the 
same  speech.  The  soldiers  on  both  sides  were 
often  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle;  but  the  chiefs 
were  afraid  to  begin  the  fight,  and  after  awhile  all 
went  back  to  their  tents. 

Things  kept  on  in  this  way  until  food  began  to 
be  scarce.  The  Children  of  the  Prince  would  have 
suffered  from  hunger  if  their  kinsmen  at  home  had 
not  helped  them ;  and  the  Wanderers  would  have 
starved  if  they  had  not  sent  companies  out  to  bring 
in  pillage  from  the  farms,, 

IV.     THE    CAMP. 

One  morning  Wealth  called  to  his  son,  the 
shepherd  lad,  and  said,  "  Darling,  I  hear  that  the 
King's  men  have  hardly  enough  to  eat,  and  I  am 


207 

afraid  that  your  brothers  are  hungry.  Suppose 
you  let  one  of  the  hired  men  take  care  of  the 
sheep  to-day,  while  you  go  up  to  the  camp  and 
see  how  they  are  getting  on.  You  may  take  a 
wagon  with  you;  and  you  may  put  into  it  three 
pecks  of  parched  corn  and  ten  loaves  of  bread  for 
your  brothers.  Put  in  ten  cheeses,  too,  as  a  pres- 
ent to  their  captain.  Find  out  how  everything  is 
going  on  in  the  camp,  and  then  come  back  and 
tell  me." 

The  lad  was  delighted  to  be  sent  upon  such  an 
errand.  He  loaded  the  wagon  with  the  corn  and 
the  bread  and  the  cheeses ;  and  then,  with  a  trusty 
man  to  drive  for  him,  he  set  off  across  the  country 
towards  the  camp.  He  had  to  take  a  roundabout 
way,  for  he  was  afraid  of  meeting  some  of  the  small 
bands  of  Wanderers  that  were  out  foraging.  When 
he  reached  the  end  of  his  journey,  it  was  late  in  the 
afternoon ;  and  he  found  the  two  armies  drawn  up 
in  order  of  battle,  each  on  its  own  hilltop.  The 
men  on  both  sides  were  making  a  great  deal  of 
noise,  shouting  back  and  forth,  and  beating  their 
shields;  but  that  was  about  as  near  as  they  ever 
got  to  a  fight. 

The  lad  left  the  wagon  with  the  driver,  and 
hurried  up  the  hill  to  the  place  where  his  three 
brothers  were  standing.  They  were  right  glad 


208 

to  see  him;  and  when  he  told  them  about  the 
parched  corn  and  the  loaves,  they  thanked  him 
warmly. 

While  they  stood  talking  on  the  brow  of  the 
hill,  the  giant  Exile  came  out  into  the  valley  and 
made  his  speech.  And  all  the  men  who  were 
nearest  to  him  ran  back,  they  were  so  much 
afraid.  When  the  lad  saw  and  heard  him,  he 
said,  — 

"  Why  don't  some  one  of  our  men  go  down 
and  fight  the  fellow  ? " 

"  Alas ! "  said  his  brothers,  "  there  are  no  giants 
among  the  Children  of  the  Prince  ;  and  do  you 
think  that  any  common  man  can  stand  up  against 
such  a  foe  ?  " 

"  Has  the  King  offered  any  reward  to  the  man 
who  will  kill  him  ?  "  asked  the  lad. 

"Yes,"  they  said.  "  He  has  offered  to  give  him 
a  chest  full  of  gold,  and  to  let  him  choose  the 
fairest  of  the  King's  daughters  for  his  wife;  and 
he  will  make  his 'father  and  his  brothers  rulers 
among  the  people." 

"  I  don't  see  how  the  King  can  offer  more  than 
that,"  said  the  lad.  "  I  think  I'll  try  my  hand 
against  the  giant  myself." 

His  big  brothers  laughed  at  him.  "  You  proud 
little  upstart,"  they  said,  "  don't  you  think  you  had 


209 

better  go  back  home  and  look  after  your  few 
sheep?" 

But  some  one  who  overheard  him  ran  and  told 
the  King,  "  There  is  a  young  man  up  here,  just  from 
the  country,  who  says  that  he  will  fight  the  giant. 
Wouldn't  it  be  well  to  let  him  try  ? " 

The  King  sent  for  him  at  once ;  but,  when  he 
saw  that  it  was  only  his  little  harper,  he  shook 
his  head. 

"  Darling,"  he  said,  "  you  can  play  sweet  music, 
and  are  a  very  good  page  in  times  of  peace ;  but 
you  cannot  fight  a  giant  like  this  Exile.  Why, 
you  are  only  a  boy,  and  he  is  a  man  of  war,  trained 
to  fight  from  his  youth !  You'd  better  keep  well 
out  of  his  way." 

"  Great  King,"  said  the  lad,  "let  me  tell  you  what 
I  have  done,  and  then  you  may  judge  whether  I 
am  not  strong  enough  to  fight.  Only  a  few  days 
ago,  as  I  was  tending  my  father's  sheep,  there  came 
a  bear  out  of  the  wood  and  took  a  lamb  from  the 
flock.  I  leaped  up  and  ran  after  him,  and  snatched 
the  lamb  from  his  grasp,  and  killed  him  before  he 
could  turn  against  me." 

"  That  was  a  brave  thing  to  do,"  said  the  King; 
"but  this  Exile  is  stronger  than  a  bear." 

"  Well,  I  will  tell  you  something  else,"  said  the 
lad.  "  The  very  next  day  a  lion  came  down  from 

STO.   OF  THE   EAST — 14 


2IO 

the  mountain  and  seized  the  finest  lamb  in  the 
flock.  I  was  no  more  afraid  of  him  than  I  was 
of  the  bear.  I  ran  after  him ;  and  when  he  turned 
upon  me,  I  caught  him  by  the  beard,  and  struck 
him  with  my  sharp  staff  and  killed  him.  It  was 
not  altogether  of  my  own  strength  that  I  did  this ; 
but  the  God  of  my  father,  he  helped  me  and  made 
me  strong.  And  he  will  help  me  against  this  giant 
Exile." 

"  I  like  the  way  you  talk,"  said  the  King. 
"  Get  yourself  ready,  and  go  out  against  this 
Exile ;  and  may  the  God  of  your  father  and  of 
my  father  go  with  you ! " 

V.     THE    SLING. 

The  King  called  to  one  of  his  chiefs  that  stood 
near,  and  told  him  to  arm  the  lad,  and  make  him 
ready,  so  that  he  could  go  out  in  the  morning  and 
fight  with  the  proud  giant.  The  King's  own  son 
chose  the  armor  for  him,  and  it  was  the  best  that 
could  be  found  in  the  camp.  They  put  a  helmet 
of  brass  upon  his  head,  and  clothed  him  in  a  coat 
of  mail,  and  gave  him  a  bright  new  sword.  But  all 
these  things  were  so  heavy  that  when  the  lad  tried 
to  walk  he  could  hardly  move. 

"•  How  am  I  going  to  fight  in  these  things  ? "  he 


211 

said.  "  I  have  never  practiced  in  armor,  and  I 
can't  go  out  this  way." 

Then  he  took  off  the  armor,  and  threw  the  sword 
upon  the  ground,  and  said  that  he  would  arm  him- 
self in  his  own  way.  So,  with  nothing  in  his  hands 
but  his  shepherd's  staff  and  a  sling,  he  went  out  in 
the  morning  to  meet  the  giant.  On  his  way  down 
the  hill  he  crossed  a  brook,  and  there  he  picked 
up  five  smooth  round  stones,  and  put  them  into 
the  little  shepherd's  bag  which  he  carried  at  his 
side. 

By  this  time  the  giant  had  come  out  into  the 
valley,  and  was  making  the  speech  which  he  had 
made  so  often  before,  and  was  daring  the  Children 
of  the  Prince  to  send  out  a  man  to  fight  him.  When 
he  saw  the  lad  coming  down  the  hill  with  only  a 
shepherd's  staff  in  his  hand,  he  laughed. 

"  Do  you  think  I  am  a  dog,"  he  roared,  "  that  you 
"send  a  boy  out  against  me  with  a  stick  ?  —  Come 
on,  my  little  fellow,  and  I  will  feed  you  to  the  birds 
and  the  beasts  !  " 

Then  the  lad  said,  "  You  are  very  large  and 
strong,  and  you  come  out  with  a  sword  and  with 
a  spear  and  with  a  shield ;  but  I  come  in  the  name 
of  the  God  of  my  father  and  of  my  people.  This 
day  I  will  smite  you,  and  take  off  your  head,  and 
give  your  big  body  to  the  birds  and  the  wild  beasts ; 


212 


and  everybody  shall  know  that  our  God  is  the  true 
God." 

Then  the  giant  was  very  angry.  He  strode  for- 
ward across  the  valley,  shaking  his  great  spear; 
but  the  lad  was  not  at  all  afraid  of  him,  and  ran 
down  the  hill  to  meet  him ;  and  as  he  ran,  he 
took  one  of  the  smooth  round  stones  which  he 
had  picked  up,  and  put  it  into  his  sling.  The 
giant  raised  his  spear  to  throw  it,  but  the  lad  was 
much  quicker  than  he.  He  twirled  the  sling  once, 
twice,  three  times  —  and  then  the  stone  went  whiz- 
zing through  the  air,  and  struck  the  Exile  in  the 
forehead.  It  struck  so  hard  that  it  sunk  deep  into 
the  big  fellow's  head,  and  he  fell  upon  his  face  to 
the  ground.  Then  the  lad  ran  and  stood  upon  him, 
and  drew  his  big  sword  from  its  sheath,  and  cut  off 
his  head.  And  that  was  the  end  of  the  Exile. 

When  the  Wanderers,  who  were  in  their  camp, 
saw  that  their  champion  was  dead,  they  were  filled* 
with  fear,  and  fled  pellmell  down  the  farther  side  of 
the  hill.  And  the  King's  men  shouted  and  ran 
after  them,  and  did  not  stop  until  they  had  chased 
them  out  of  the  country. 

Then  everybody  praised  the  lad  for  what  he  had 
done;  and  the  King  took  him  into  his  own  house, 
and  made  him  captain  of  a  thousand  men.  And, 
as  they  marched  through  the  land,  the  women  and 


(213) 


214 

girls  came  out  from  the  cities  with  music  and  song, 
and  danced  before  them;  and  as  they  played,  one 
company  would  sing,  — 

"  The  King  has  slain  a  thousand  men, 
A  hero  brave  is  he." 

And  then  another  company  would  answer,  - 

"  This  lad  has  slain  ten  thousand  men, 
He's  set  our  country  free." 

This  did  not  please  the  King  very  well;  but, 
when  he  saw  that  everybody  was  ready  to  take  the 
boy's  part,  he  said  nothing. 

Now,  I  need  not  tell  you  any  more  of  the  strange 
history  of  the  lad  whom  his  father  called  Darling ; 
for,  after  his  great  fight  with  the  giant  Exile,  he 
was  no  longer  looked  upon  as  a  lad,  but  as  a  prince. 
After  a  time  he  married  the  King's  pretty  daughter; 
and  when  at  last  the  King  and  his  son  were  both 
slain  in  battle,  the  Children  of  the  Prince  chose  him 
to  be  their  ruler.  Thus  the  words  of  the  old  Seer 
when  he  poured  oil  on  the  boy's  head  came  true; 
and  he  reigned  over  his  people  for  many  years,  and 
was  the  greatest  king  that  his  country  ever  had. 

The  name  of  this  shepherd  lad  was  David,  for 
that  word  in  his  own  language  meant  darling;  and 
the  giant  Exile  whom  he  slew  is  commonly  called 


215 

Goliah.  And  even  to  this  day  the  descendants  of 
the  Children  of  the  Prince  take  pride  in  talking 
about  the  glorious  reign  of  King  David,  for  it  was 
then  that  their  country  reached  the  highest  point 
of  its  prosperity ;  and  in  the  churches  all  over  the 
world  the  people  still  recite  the  songs  called  Psalms, 
that  King  David  sang  when  playing  upon  his  harp 
in  his  kingly  palace  three  thousand  years  ago. 


TYPOGRAPHY  BY  J.  S.  GUSHING  &  Co.,  NORWOOD,  MASS.,  U.S.A. 


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